Dr. Fauci Says Current COVID Vaccine Won't Be Enough 'Within A Year Or So'

Dr. Anthony Fauci has taken to the airwaves to temper expectations for the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Speaking to Axios, he said that the current vaccine isn’t likely to be effective forever.

Unlike, say, the Polio vaccine, the vaccine against COVID-19 isn’t designed to last a lifetime. In addition, experts have long warned that mutated strains could require their own inoculations to maintain resistance.

"I think we will almost certainly require a booster sometime within a year or so, after getting the primary [shot],” Fauci said. “The durability of protection against coronaviruses is generally not lifelong."

His comments came during an interview largely focusing on new mask-wearing guidelines. Fauci said that those who claimed the new guidelines meant everyone vaccinated can ditch their masks were misinterpreting the change.

“People are misinterpreting, thinking that this is a removal of a mask mandate for everyone. It's not,” Fauci said. “They are feeling that we're saying: 'You don't need the mask anymore.' That's not what the CDC said. They said: If you are vaccinated, you can feel safe — that you will not get infected either outdoors or indoors. It did not explicitly say that unvaccinated people should abandon their masks."

Fauci also cautioned that certain situations, such as public transportation, were likely to require masks longer than other environments. He gave airplanes as an example, saying that masks would likely be needed for months, although not years.

Fauci’s comments come amid growing concerns about rural vaccination rates. Remote, conservative areas have started lagging behind their more populated peers, raising the possibility that they could act as reservoirs for COVID-19 to spread and mutate.