Dr Anthony Fauci said during a Friday episode of Fox News ‘Your World With Neil Cavuto’ that he was ‘completely taken out of context’ when he discussed the possibility that face masks may be worn until 2022.
Fauci said ‘come on, let’s get serious’ when asked by host Neil Cavuto about some of the criticism he’s received since commenting in a February interview on CNN’s State of the Union . (RELATED: CNN’s Sanjay Gupta says it’s unlikely ‘there will be a significant fourth outbreak’ of Coronavirus in the US)
Cavuto began with the remark of Professor John Hopkins School of Medicine, dr. Marty Makary’s criticism of Fauci that he is “too cautious” in his response to the pandemic because it relates to herd immunity. Cavuto raised Fauci’s remarks about masks, in which he told CNN’s Dana Bash that it is possible that Americans could still wear masks in 2022, depending on the state of ‘normality’ related to the pandemic, and how you define it . He then asks Fauci if he is careful to the point that it will be ‘impossible’ to get out of the pandemic mindset.
“Well, first let me respond to one thing the person says, which he just completely misunderstands,” Fauci replies. ‘He says when I talk about herd immunity, I only consider people who are vaccinated. This is completely wrong. ”
He further said that herd immunity is an ‘illusion concept’ because we do not know the percentage of people who are already infected, and probably protected from the virus, other than the people who have been vaccinated. He added that the larger the number the joint group of people is, the closer we get to a blanket of protection over the community. ‘
“In terms of being too careful, we want to make sure we do it based on science when we make recommendations,” he continued. ‘You can say that this is probably the case, which is true. If you are vaccinated, you will probably not spread infection if you become infected without any symptoms. There is no doubt about it. I understand this as well as anyone else. ‘
He then said that once studies emerge that this may be the case, people can wear masks when they are vaccinated. He added that until then he wants to be conservative and have to wait until they get the data that proves it.
‘But with masks until 2022, Doctor? Do you still stand by it? Cavuto jumps in.
‘Come on, let’s be serious about this. It was completely ripped out of context. What I said – ”Fauci replied before Cavuto jumped in again and asked:“ Do you not think it’s right? You do not think you should have masks in 2022? ”
“We do not know. I’m not saying we will do that. “If we have a big increase and we have a continuation of an increase in cases, it is possible that we will have to wear masks in 2022,” Fauci said. ‘If we continue to get people vaccinated, and we get the vast majority of people along with those who are infected and the level of infection drops, we probably will not have to.
‘We’re playing this game here. You take a word or sentence that someone says and throw a got-you at them. No, I did not say definitively that we will undoubtedly be wearing masks in 2022. I said that we would be conceivable under certain circumstances. But there are circumstances in which we may not have to, ‘he concluded.