White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci stated Sunday that he is in favor of the acceleration of giving COVID booster shots to the country’s vulnerable population.
“We need to look at them in a different light,” Fauci said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” “We will almost certainly be boosting those people before we boost the general population that’s been vaccinated, and we should be doing that reasonably soon.”
Bloomberg: Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious-disease doctor, said he’s “strongly in favor” of speeding booster shots to people with weakened immune systems.https://t.co/gB5KYTHBBQ
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Fauci claimed that people who are immunocompromised, including people who have had organ transplants or undergone chemotherapy, “never did get an adequate response” from their COVID-19 vaccination. His recommendation comes as discussion mounts over how to deal with the Delta variant, while COVID cases have reached over 100,000 per day for the first time since February. (RELATED: New York City To Become First In The US To Implement Vaccine Passports For Indoor Dining, Fitness)
Booster shots for people aged 60 years and older have already been distributed throughout Israel, the first nation to roll out boosters widely, Bloomberg reported. More than half a million Israeli residents will have their third injection by the end of Sunday, according to Bloomberg.
Fauci stressed the importance of breakthrough infections and how such cases should not be taken “lightly.” The White House chief medical advisor also said Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that children should wear masks in schools in order to protect students who have not received the vaccine.
“For the kids who can’t get vaccinated, that’s the reason why we’re having a strong recommendation that in the schools everybody should wear a mask, whether or not you’re vaccinated,” Fauci told host Chuck Todd. “We’ve got to protect the children.”