Fauci: The 2022 worst-case scenario is the alternative that eludes vaccine protection

Dr. Anthony Fauci

 

Fauci: The 2022 worst-case scenario is the alternative that eludes vaccine protection

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, told Yahoo Finance that COVID-19 could become pandemic in 2022 but only if specific criteria are met.

If you get "a mixture of enough vaccinated and boosted people along with infected people who have recovered and have some degree of immunity - I hope they end up vaccinating them too - and you have a virus, a variant, that is less pathogenic" and does not lead to community disruption And only then can it be considered endemic," Fauci said.

This is why Fauci is baffled by the slow uptake of vaccines in places like the United States, where they are widely available.

"I think almost everyone thought when we got a vaccine as effective and as safe as the ones we have now, that we would get enough people to get vaccinated ... we reduced the infection, not only in the United States but ... we also moved our weapons Basically about the epidemic globally."

But the confluence of emerging variables that have caused multiple waves of cases globally, combined with a lack of vaccine uptake and a lack of equitable vaccine distribution, have all led to the epidemic continuing to spread today.

"We were expecting there will be challenges, but there are a lot of confusing issues that have made this year a very, very complex year," Fauci said of 2021.

That is why he remains cautious about this year's possible outcome.

"We have a very effective and safe intervention that has not benefited a large proportion of the population, which complicates our response to an already formidable challenge from a very elusive virus," Fauci said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks about the case of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which was discovered in California during a press conference at the White House in Washington, US, on December 1, 2021. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci talks about the case of the variant of the coronavirus Omicron, which was discovered in California during a news conference at the White House in Washington, US, on December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarck

He is concerned about the remaining unvaccinated individuals in the United States and globally and how that charts the course for 2022.

"The worst-case scenario is that we're on our way there, and we're exposed to another variant that's already deficient in immune protection. I hope that's not the case," Fauci said.

While there is some level of that from the Omicron variant, the booster doses withstand more severe disease and death.

"The thing that makes it less likely, but not impossible, is that by that time, you will have a lot of people who have been vaccinated and are already infected, and you may have a level of community protection that may not keep you away from the next alternative, but will protect you from the danger of the next kind.".