‘Degree of normality’ possible in late 2021 — if most people get vaccine, Fauci says
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said the U.S. could see “some degree of normality” by late 2021 if a majority of people get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Fauci said the country could get closer to “normality” if 75-80% of the population is vaccinated and a level of herd immunity is achieved.
“If we do that, I believe if we do it efficiently enough over the second quarter of 2021, by the time we get to the end of the summer, i.e. the third quarter, we may actually have enough herd immunity protecting our society that as we get to the end of 2021, we could approach very much some degree of normality that is close to where we were before,” Fauci said in an interview with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta on Wednesday.
Herd immunity is when enough of a population becomes immune to a disease through vaccine or getting sick to make the spread between people in the community unlikely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fauci’s comments come as Pfizer and BioNTech will have their COVID-19 vaccine reviewed Thursday and the committee will vote on whether the FDA will authorize the vaccine for “emergency use authorization”
Moderna will have its vaccine go through the same process next week, with its review before the FDA committee scheduled for Dec. 17.
Fauci said that Moderna’s vaccine has shown nearly 100% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 effects in trials but it’s not yet clear if it protects against future infection.
“What we don’t know right now is the degree to which it prevents you from getting virologically infected,” Fauci said.
Pfizer said early results showed its vaccine has an efficacy rate of more than 90%, while Moderna said that its vaccine’s efficacy is 94.5%, The New York Times reported.
More Americans are now willing to get a vaccine, according to a new Gallup poll released Tuesday, McClatchy News reported. The survey of 1,968 adults was conducted Nov. 16-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The poll found 63% of Americans would agree to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if the shot was “available right now at no cost.” The other 37% said they would not agree to be vaccinated.
The respondents willing to get vaccinated increased from 58% in October and 50% in September.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 10:56 AM with the headline "‘Degree of normality’ possible in late 2021 — if most people get vaccine, Fauci says."