COVID-19 Vaccine Might Not Be Enough To Achieve Herd Immunity In US, Warns Fauci

A new COVID-19 vaccine might not be completely effective against the deadly novel coronavirus, said Dr. Anthony Fauci during an interview broadcasted Sunday night.

He said he would “settle” for a COVID-19 vaccine that’s 70 to 75% effective, but, that might be incomplete protection due to the fact that many Americans are against getting a coronavirus vaccine. And this might make it impossible for the U.S. to achieve herd immunity.

“There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking,” Axios quoted Fauci.

"Herd immunity is a situation in which a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination and/or prior illness) to make its spread from person to person unlikely,” as per the CDC. But for that to occur, access to vaccination is required.

Several clinical trials are underway for COVID-19 vaccines and manufacturers like 'Moderna' are positive that they could be making up to a billion doses every year. But that might take a little longer.

Fauci, in his interview, remained "cautiously optimistic" that a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 could be available by the end o the year or the beginning of next year. He also mentioned that people should be educated on the safety of vaccines, especially amid disinformation from the anti-vaccination movement.

"I don't think we're doing very well. Communities should get boots on the ground and to go out there and look for the people, instead of getting on a phone and doing so-called contact tracing by phone," said Fauci during his interview.

Fauci opined that, when there is a community spread, it is insidious since there are so many individuals in the community who carry the virus but do not exhibit any symptoms.

“So, the standard classic paradigm of identification, isolation, contact tracing doesn't work no matter how good you are because you don't know who you're tracing," Fauci said in his interview with Cohen.

And more importantly, Fauci also highlighted another problem – crowds of people getting together without taking any precautionary measures including social distancing or wearing masks. He called it a “recipe for disaster."