Fauci predicts ‘good control’ over COVID-1`9 by fall of 2022 if ‘overwhelming majority’ get vaccinated
In one year, by the fall of 2022, Dr. Anthony Fauci says the United States can get control of COVID-19.
But the prediction by President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser on Monday evening is contingent on there being widespread vaccinations, a contentious issue that lingers more than eight months after the jabs became available to the public and the more contagious delta variant has led to new spikes in cases and a push for booster shots.
“If all things go the way we want them to go …,” Fauci, who is the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, began in a quote aired on CNN, “…and we get really the overwhelming majority of people vaccinated. I think as we get into the fall and winter, we could start to really get some good control over this as we get back into the fall of 2022.”
The Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, a move the Biden administration is hoping will convince holdouts to get the shots. Moderna, whose vaccine relies on the same mRNA technology as the one developed by Pfizer, filed its application for full approval in June, and it is expected to be granted this fall. Pfizer and Moderna are also in the process of testing the vaccines in young children, with clinical trial data expected to be submitted to the FDA in the fall as well. Right now there is no COVID-19 vaccine available for children 12 and under.
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More than 171 million people have been fully vaccinated in the United States, which is 51.5% of the population, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 201 million, or roughly 60.8% of the population, have received at least one dose.
In recent weeks, there has been renewed debate about restrictions meant to stem the spread of the virus, and schools are grappling with whether to require face coverings in schools as students return to class. Roughly 6 in 10 people in the United States say they support students and teachers should be required to wear masks while in K-12 schools, and similar numbers were reported for vaccine mandates among those eligible, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reported on Monday.
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The CDC said the vaccines are key to controlling the coronavirus pandemic and stressed that infections among fully vaccinated people, called breakthrough cases, are expected.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness in vaccinated people. There will be a small percentage of fully vaccinated people who still get sick, are hospitalized, or die from COVID-19,” the CDC states on its website.
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