On Sunday, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” to discuss vaccinations, reopening schools, and other topics with host Dana Bash. When Bash asked Fauci about guidelines for people who have received vaccinations, the doctor did not provide specific answers.
Bash said that there has been confusion as to how someone’s lifestyle is able to change once they receive the vaccine. The host used her family as an example, saying that her parents have been given both doses of the vaccine and are fully vaccinated. She asked, “Does that mean it’s okay for them to spend time with their grandchildren, who obviously have not been vaccinated? What’s your recommendation?”
Dr. Fauci responded, saying he was not going to make a recommendation at this time, but that “there will be recommendations coming out. I don’t want to be making a recommendation now on public TV,” he said. “I would want to sit down with the team, take a look at that.”
He added, “And you will be seeing relaxation of some of the stringencies as more and more people get vaccinated, I promise you that.”
The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 is nearing 500,000, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Biden administration has announced plans to increase the vaccination rollout as well as to contribute funding to the global vaccine effort.
According to tracking by NPR using the CDC’s data, 12.9% of the United States’ population has received the first dose of the required two doses, with 5.4% of the population having received both doses.
The CDC also released a report on Friday detailing the safety of vaccine use. In a summary of the findings, the CDC detailed that their monitoring “indicates reassuring safety profiles for COVID-19 vaccines. Local and systemic reactions were common; rare reports of anaphylaxis were received. No unusual or unexpected reporting patterns were detected.”
In response to what the implications of this report might be for public health practices, the CDC report explains: “Health care providers and vaccine recipients can be reassured about the safety of Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.”
The CDC also previously announced that those who have received both doses of the vaccine do not need to quarantine if they are exposed to COVID-19.
As reported by The Daily Wire on February 11:
The Center acknowledges that while the possibility of transmission from vaccinated persons to others is still unknown, “vaccination has been demonstrated to prevent symptomatic COVID-19” and “symptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission” is believed to have a “greater role in transmission” as opposed to transmission from someone who is asymptomatic.
On Sunday, Fauci also discussed the recent research in Israel and Canada that suggests only one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is needed to protect against the coronavirus.
Fauci answered that “the science points directly towards continuing with what we know about from the clinical trial,” which includes a two-dose regimen as the best way to develop the most antibodies.
“We know for sure that when you give a prime with the Pfizer followed by a boost 21 days later that you get a 94% to 95% efficacy, and the difference between the level of antibodies after one dose versus two doses is about tenfold higher,” he said.
“And that is really important because when you have that high a degree comparable to the single dose alone, that’s the cushion that you would like to have when you get a variant that isn’t as well-protected against by the antibodies induced by the vaccine, but you have enough level to be able to prevent at least severe disease.”
Fauci was also asked if he, who is fully vaccinated, has seen his family. He answered that he has only seen his wife.