The chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, MD, stated this week that he is not yet prepared to declare that COVID-19 is about to come to an end. However, Fauci noted during a virtual interview with the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California that “as a nation, we seem to be on the right route.”
Just two weeks prior, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Biden declared that “the pandemic is finished.” The World Health Organization also declared last month that COVID’s demise was imminent.
No doubt about it, people would read the president’s statement as “it’s entirely finished and we’re done for good,” which is not the case, Fauci added.
Instead, he understood the remark to be a reference to the improvement in the nation’s caseload and mortality rates over the past several months, and that the worst is probably behind us.
Even with the promise of a better future in the future, Fauci, who has faced harsh criticism for his public messaging, picks his words wisely.
He remarked, “I think it would be cavalier to say we’re done with [COVID] all of a sudden.” Because, as you may recall, in the summer of 2021, we were moving in the right path when Delta appeared. Then Omicron appeared in the winter. We’ve had sublineages of Omicron ever since.
In order to lessen the likelihood of yet another increase, Fauci warned steps must still be taken, particularly as winter draws near. When questioned about his own safety measures, Fauci said that he continues to avoid eating indoors during sit-down dinners. He continues to attend parties without a mask on, stating that the majority of them take place outside, but he wears one if he must spend “a considerable period of time” within.
A significant section of the discussion also focused on the takeaways to be drawn from the conflicting advice given by public health professionals, including Fauci, during the COVID pandemic and the more recent events with monkeypox.
In every situation, Fauci said, “I have attempted to offer the hard truth, but very often the hard truth is not heard under the circumstance that it is presented.” He attributes the general lack of clarity that many have attributed to his and the CDC’s statements regarding COVID to social media’s misrepresentation of public comments and the dissemination of false information.
Fauci declared that he would change some of his actions if he could go back in time. In order to emphasise the uncertainty of the scenario we were in during the early months of the pandemic, he would have attempted to be much more cautious if he had the option.
According to Fauci, the main problem the U.S. is still having with the pandemic is people’s reluctance to be immunised and eventually have COVID boosters. And he doesn’t think the message about vaccines is divisive.
People claim that I’m divisive, said Fauci. “Well, am I the divisive figure when I urge vaccination because it saves lives and someone objects? Or is the individual who is expressing something wholly false the one who is inciting polarisation?
