Increased cases put US 'in the wrong direction' of pandemic, says Anthony Fauci
Dr Anthony Fauci said he was frustrated with the resistance of part of the American population to get vaccinated
The US is heading "in the wrong direction" of the pandemic, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the coronavirus task force, at a time when covid-19 cases are on the rise among the country's unvaccinated population.
Fauci said this Sunday (25/7), in an interview with CNN, that a "pandemic among the unvaccinated is forming in the US".
"I'm very frustrated," said Fauci, after the CNN presenter presented data from an opinion poll pointing out that 80% of Americans who are vaccinated so far will probably or definitely not accept being vaccinated.
"I don't like to blame people because it makes them back down further. But I would like to see more (politicians) leaders from low-vaccination areas encouraging people to get vaccinated," the doctor continued. "We need to do better. People are putting themselves through unnecessary distress" because of the high risk of taking covid-19 and having health complications, he said.
o date, more than 162.7 million people - or 49% of the US population - have been fully vaccinated against covid-19, according to official data. The US led the pace of global immunization until April, when immunization rates began to lose momentum.
Immunization rates are particularly low in the southern states of the country, where less than half of the population received the first dose.
The sharpest increases in the number of cases have also occurred in southern or Midwestern states such as Florida, Texas and Missouri.
Earlier last week, expert Vivek Murthy stated that 99.5% of covid-19 deaths in the country were occurring among unvaccinated groups.
According to Anthony Fauci - a White House adviser in both Donald Trump's and Joe Biden's administrations - health officials are considering the possibility of revising the permission for vaccinated people to stop wearing masks. It would be an attempt to try to contain even more acute highs in cases.
For now, the guidance of the CDCs (Centers for Disease Control) is that fully vaccinated people can "restart their activities as before the pandemic, without wearing masks".
Fauci said, however, that governors can issue their own guidelines based on local realities.
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