Dr. Anthony Fauci used a National Press Club Newsmaker event Dec. 20 to urge Americans to get a booster shot to provide additional protection against the coronavirus and its omicron variant.
“Our booster vaccine regimens work,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “As you go from fully vaccinated to fully vaccinated plus boosted, you can see the risk of severe disease become extremely low compared to the unvaccinated.”
The third vaccine dose could eventually help bring the U.S. to a state of relative normalcy amid a pandemic poised to stretch into its third year, he said.
“The only way we’re going to get there is if we do what we have been recommending, very repetitively and intensively: vaccination, booster, mitigation with mask in congregate settings, and over time we feel confident that we will get this under control," he said.
Those who’ve already received their booster might already be in a position to enjoy a healthy holiday season, especially if they combine it with other precautions, he said.
“Vaccination and booster is the biggest thing you can do,” he said. “And when you do travel, make sure that when you are in congregate settings, like a crowded airport, that you keep your mask on at all times.”
“The other thing one can do is go the extra mile and get tested before you have a family gathering or a group get tested the day before or the day of getting together,” he added. “Vaccinated and boosted people … should feel very comfortable in getting together and enjoying a holiday meal or a holiday get together.”
To that end, Fauci said that since he and his relatives are all fully vaccinated and boosted, he’s looking forward to spending a quiet Christmas Day with family.
Fauci said initial evidence suggested the current omicron strain could be less harmful than its predecessors, but urged the public to take that information with a grain of salt.
“We don't want to hang our hat on that for the simple reasons that it might be due to the fact that there are so many people in South Africa who've been previously infected with delta and beta that they have a degree of residual immunity that's not protecting them against infection, but is protecting them against severity of disease,” he said.
While the U.S. initially imposed travel restrictions on South African nations, Fauci said there was little value in continuing them now that infection is widespread in the U.S.
“We are likely going to pull back on that pretty soon,” Fauci said. “We are letting in people from other countries that have as much or more infection than southern African countries.” Source: National Press Club
