Dr. Anthony Fauci ensured that things are “going in the right direction” when it comes to COVID-19 but warned that we should not get too comfortable and to stay prepared.

Fauci spoke about what is next for COVID-19 vaccinations in an interview with CNBC. The fate of vaccines comes after the two-year anniversary of the pandemic on March 11.

“The answer is: we don’t know. I mean, that’s it,” Fauci said. He added that considering that vaccine effectiveness goes down with time, “it is likely that we’re not done with this when it comes to vaccines.”

Case numbers and hospitalizations from Omicron and the other variants have seen a declined in recent weeks. This has allowed for a sense of “normal” again as the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention has eased mask mandates.

“Everybody wants to return to normal, everybody wants to put the virus behind us in the rearview mirror, which is, I think, what we should aspire to... We have been going in the right direction; however, we have gone in the right direction in four other variants,” Fauci said.

Fauci wants people to enjoy the feeling of normal again, but to not forget what got us here, and the “catastrophic experience” it was on the way. He believes that getting comfortable makes it easy to forget.

“The problem here and throughout the world is that the memory of what happened fades very quickly,” Fauci warned.

“I would hope that this completely catastrophic experience that we’ve had over the last two-plus years will make it so that we don’t forget, and we do the kind of pandemic preparedness that is absolutely essential.”