An extremely edited video shared on Instagram gives a misrepresentation of the comments of dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States’ leading expert in infectious diseases, why individuals with the COVID-19 vaccine should still wear masks in public until the country reaches herd immunity. Fauci explains that it is not yet clear how effective the current vaccines are in limiting the spread of the virus from one immunized person to another. In other words, a vaccine will prevent the recipient from getting sick, but the person can still carry the virus and expose those who did not receive the vaccine.
Posts sharing this video can be found here, here and here.
The clip in the reports comes from an interview Fauci did with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on December 10, 2020 (here). Provided by CNN, the full transcript of the interview is available here.
In the interview, Fauci answers Cuomo’s question, “Why do I have to keep wearing the mask after I get the vaccine?” by stating that those who are vaccinated “can be prevented from getting clinical diseases,” but that they “may still have the virus in your nasopharynx because you may become infected.”
After Fauci said, “We’re not sure at the moment that the vaccine will protect you from infection,” the edited Instagram clip plays a record sound effect and a voice call faithfully asks, “We are not sure? At this point? That the vaccine protects you from infection? ‘
As stated here on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, “We are still learning how well COVID-19 vaccines prevent humans from spreading the disease.”
“Early data shows that the vaccines may help people not spread COVID-19, but we are learning more as more people are vaccinated,” the CDC website said.
In other words, there is a difference between getting infected with SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and experiencing COVID-19 disease. The Cleveland Clinic explains here that ‘those vaccinated may still be asymptomatic distributors’, as the vaccines prevent disease, but ‘more research is needed to determine if the vaccines can also prevent transmission.’
After Fauci said that the vaccines “are very good, 94%, 95% to protect you from clinically recognizable diseases, and almost 100% to protect you from serious diseases,” the edited clip is interrupted again with a record sound and a voice call that misleadingly says: “Clinically recognizable disease? But not COVID? ‘
It is clear from reading the broader transcript of the interview that the terms ‘serious illness’ and ‘clinically recognizable illness’ here refer to COVID-19, the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, and not another illness not.
As made clear here by the World Health Organization (WHO), viruses, and the diseases they cause, often have different names. For example, HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. People often know the name of a disease, but not the name of the virus that causes it. ‘
In this context, dr. Fauci severe or clinically recognizable cases of COVID-19, which vaccines are very effective at fighting.
The voice of the voice: “Well, what does he call COVID if it’s not serious?” thus misinterpreting Fauci incorrectly by combining infection with the new coronavirus and COVID-19 disease.
Finally, the vote expresses surprise at Fauci’s remark that the United States is only starting a vaccination program. By the time the CNN interview aired, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had just approved the first COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech to make it available for emergency use (here).
Since then, the FDA has also approved the COVID-19 vaccines Moderna and Janssen (here). As of March 7, the United States has administered 90.35 million doses of vaccine (here).
Fauci’s statement that ‘we still have a long way to go and that we should get as many people from all groups vaccinated as possible’ speaks to the fact that the United States has not yet reached herd immunity status.
According to a March 5 NPR report, 18.4% of the total U.S. population received at least one vaccine dose (here). For the nation to achieve herd immunity, 50% to 80% of the population must be fully vaccinated (here).
VERDICT
Untrue. The edited version of the video shared on Instagram contains a SARS-CoV-2 infection with COVID-19 disease, which dr. Fauci’s statements about the efficacy of available vaccines in the prevention of clinically recognizable or severe coronavirus disease are incorrect.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.