Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN host Anderson Cooper Monday that he misspoke when he told NPR earlier that day that the COVID-19 pandemic could be in control by fall of next year, if most Americans get vaccinated.
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“I have to apologize,” said Fauci, who serves as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and as the Chief Medical Advisor to the President. “When I listened to the tape – I meant to say spring of 2022, so I did misspeak.”
“My bad,” he added.
According to Fauci, getting shots in the arms the majority of the 90 million Americans who have not been vaccinated, including people who have been infected with and recovered from COVID-19, would be a key step towards getting the pandemic under control. When Cooper asked what control might look like, Fauci said it would include “a degree of normality” at places like restaurants and movie theaters.
While current signs point to achieving this degree of normality early next year, Fauci warned that the virus is “wily” and there may be further complications, such as the highly contagious Delta variant that has been fueling a surge of new cases.
“We thought we were going to have that degree of freedom as we got into the fourth of July and the summer. And then along comes a sucker punch with the Delta variant which is extraordinary in its ability to spread from person to person,” he said.
Many hoped the pandemic was waning this spring, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even relaxed mask recommendations for the vaccinated. However, the recommendations were strengthened again this summer.
Fauci initially said masks were unnecessary in the early stages of the pandemic last spring and later changed his stance, according to the New York Post.
During his interview with Cooper, Fauci was more focused on vaccines as a way to curb the pandemic. He said it is unclear what percentage of the population would need to get a shot to get the virus under control, though it could be 85 to 90 percent.
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Now that the FDA has officially approved the Pfizer vaccine, more people may want to get it and more places can start requiring it, Fauci added.
“I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “I respect people’s freedom, but when you’re talking about a public health crisis that we’ve been going through now for well over a year and a half, the time has come.”
According to CNN, President Joe Biden could have a difficult time keeping up national morale as the pandemic stretches through another winter. Support for Biden began slipping this month due to increasing COVID-19 numbers and the quicker-than-expected Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as U.S. troops depart after nearly two decades.
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