Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Sunday, dismissed accusations that he was deliberately moving the goalposts when the country would vaccinate enough people against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity, saying he had previously offered ‘guests’.
According to some stores is a “confession”, Fauci told The New York Times: “When polls say that only half of all Americans will take a vaccine, I said that the immunity of the herd will be 70 to 75 percent take … Then, when it was said in new surveys that 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can pick it up a little bit,’ so I went to 80.85. ‘
In subsequent interviews, Fauci focused on the other part of the Times report in which he compared COVID-19 to measles and said at the time, “I would bet my house that COVID is not as contagious as measles.”
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, attends a Coronavirus Task Force news conference at the White House in Washington, DC, Friday, April 10, 2020. Photographer: Kevin Dietsch / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Fauci appeared in ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday morning and repeated to CNN’s Dana Bash that he based his numbers on measles – not on votes.
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“Measles is about 98% effective in vaccine; the COVID-19 vaccine is about 94%,” Fauci said.
‘If you are vaccinated with measles among 90% of the population, you see a breakthrough against the immunity of the flock, people start to become infected, as we have seen in New York State and in New York, with the Orthodox Jewish group, when we broke out the measles. ‘
“So I made a calculation that COVID-19 is not nearly as contagious as measles,” Fauci added, emphasizing that measles is ‘the most contagious’ virus.
Instead, Fauci claims to be making a “guest house,” and he insists that a more realistic range of 75-80% of the American population should be vaccinated before the country reaches herd immunity.
“I think 75-80% for herd immunity to COVID-19 is a reasonable estimate, and in fact most of my epidemiology colleagues agree with me,” Fauci said.
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Fauci said he is doing everything in his power to encourage people in the U.S. and worldwide to get the vaccine. He said he uses any discussion or interview to encourage people to reach the threshold for herd immunity.
When pressed when he thinks it could be, Fauci speculated that the US would see ‘open season’ – the point at which the vaccine is offered to the general public – by the end of March.
Starting with general public vaccinations in April would reach herd immunity by the end of the summer, he added, despite the number of vaccinations allegedly lower than what Warp Speed had predicted a month ago. when the vaccinations were still approved.
“Every time you start a comprehensive vaccination program with a brand new vaccine like this, it starts slowly and starts gaining momentum,” Fauci said.
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“I’m pretty confident as we gain more momentum as we move from December to January and then February and March, I believe we will catch up with the projection.”