In an interview, Sunday, Chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci remarked that while he doubts the COVID-19 virus will be eradicated, he would like to see daily infection rates fall below 10,000 before the United States can start "living with COVID-19."
Specifically, as specified in an NBC Digital News report, the health official said people will need to start living with the virus ad he doubts it will ever completely go away.
The infectious disease expert explained that he means everyone has heard people saying, understandably, they are trying to search for a metric to give the public that they will have to begin living with COVID-19. He added he believes that's since he does not think it's going to be eradicated.
Fauci elaborated that only one infection of mankind has been eradicated, "and that's smallpox." He noted that other illnesses had been totally eradicated with quite an intensive vaccine campaign. The medical expert also remarked on the probability of a fifth wave of COVID-19.
Possibility of a 5th Wave
In this interview, a similar Washington Examiner report specified that according to Dr. Fauci, there certainly has a potential to enter the fifth wave, and this, or the magnitude of any increase, will transform into a wave, will be reliant upon what to do in the next several weeks, to a couple of months.
As indicated in a related report from the Independent through MSN News, Dr. Fauci, who has served as the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease director since the Reagan administration said, the period of the pandemic will extensively turn on whether the more than 60 million Americans who have opted not to get a COVID-19 vaccine to change their minds and if the millions who were given the vaccines earlier this year go back to get their booster shots.
He explained, if there's a combination of getting as many individuals as can be vaccinated as possible "who have not yet gotten vaccinated," to add to it, the children who are now qualified, the five- to 11-year-olds, "there's 28 million of those," he continued.
He also said, getting the many, many individuals now, 70 percent of the whole population of adults has been vaccinated, vaccinated, about 80 percent has received the vaccine. If that is done successfully, in quite an intensive manner, Fauci said, an increase in infection rate can be mitigated.
Importance of Vaccines and Boosters
According to a CBS News report, in announcing the travel restrictions from several countries in the region starting today, President Biden announced in a statement late last week that the occurrence of the Omicron variant highlights the need for vaccinated Americans to get their booster shots and the unvaccinated, to get their vaccines.
Still, in the media organization's Face the Nation, Fauci said, those who have been vaccinated see their immunity to the virus drop over time, which adds a level of uncertainty in identifying the level of vaccination needed to achieve herd immunity.
He added if one gets someone who is vaccinated and he wanes down and gets lower a certain level, he doesn't know if he can count that as a protected individual, which is the reason why it is a combination, not just of getting the entire population of vaccinated as a primary, but getting people boosted, as well.
To date, Americans aged five years old and older are eligible to get vaccinated although Fauci said he believes children below five years old will be able to get vaccinated in the first quarter of next year, as studies are presently underway on kids aged two to five, and then six months up to two years.
Related report about Dr. Fauci's remark on COVID-19 that's not likely to disappear is shown on CNBC Television's YouTube video below:
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