The White House has had “serious discussions” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about recommending that those vaccinated for COVID-19 be able to socialize together, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci – who said he was eager to take that advice and hug. finally his daughter after a year.
Noting that “although it is not supported by data, it is supported by common sense,” Fauci told Chris Cuomo of CNN on Thursday night that people who received all the doses could start to stay.
Fauci, who is President Biden’s scientific adviser, said: “Even if the risk is not zero, the risk becomes extremely low when you have both sides vaccinated.
“So we’re going to start seeing people say, ‘Hey, as many people as possible are vaccinated, they can have dinner with incoming family members,'” he said.
“Before they were vaccinated, if they wanted to come and visit you, they would have to quarantine for a while, be tested, wear a mask,” said the nation’s top doctor for infectious diseases.
“My professional judgment is that when my daughter wants to come here and be vaccinated twice, I’ll have her over the house and give her a big hug that I couldn’t do for a year,” he added. .
Fauci also discussed the new coronavirus strain that appears in the Big Apple, which shares some of the features with the South African version.
In mid-February, the variant – named B.1.526 – was present in about 12 percent of coronavirus samples collected in the city and surrounding areas, according to researchers at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in Vagelos.
“You know, it just started a cluster in the Washington Heights section of Columbia Medical Center and then it started going through other parts of the city, the other neighborhoods, and it’s something you really want to pay attention to because it has some worrying mutations, the group of mutations, ”Fauci told CNN.
Again, this is why you continue to take public health measures and vaccinate as many people as possible. “Everything you throw at a mutant will be countered by vaccinating people,” he said.
When asked if the current vaccines work against the variant, Fauci said: “No, we don’t know if they work directly against it, but this is the point you want to pass on to people.
“Even if this vaccine does not directly match a variant that could occur anywhere – South America, South Africa, California, New York – the higher the level of protection against the original, there is an impact on the protection against the variant. “