National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said in 2021 that vaccinated individuals are “dead ends” for the coronavirus.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” in May 2021, Fauci said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dropped the mask requirement for fully vaccinated individuals because the vaccine rendered those individuals “dead ends.”
“Even though there are breakthrough infections with vaccinated people, almost always the people are asymptomatic and the level of virus is so low it makes it extremely unlikely — not impossible but very, very low likelihood — that they’re going to transmit it,” Fauci said during “Face the Nation.”
“When you get vaccinated, you not only protect your own health and that of the family, but also you contribute to the community health by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community,” Fauci continued. “In other words, you become a dead end to the virus. And when there are a lot of dead ends around, the virus is not going to go anywhere. And that’s when you get a point that you have a markedly diminished rate of infection in the community.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, reacts during the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 31, 2020. Kevin Dietsch/Pool via REUTERS
Fully vaccinated individuals have been known to spread and catch the coronavirus despite their inoculation status. Data released by the CDC found vaccinated people infected with the Delta variant can carry “detectable viral loads similar to those of people who are unvaccinated,” Johns Hopkins reported in August 2021. (RELATED: ‘I Knew These Vaccines Were Not Going To Protect Against Infection’: Dr. Birx Admits Vaccines Were ‘Overplayed’)
“The new data says that a fully vaccinated person who experiences a breakthrough infection can spread the virus just as much as an unvaccinated person,” Johns Hopkins wrote in the August 2021 report.
As of June 2022, the CDC reports that vaccinated individuals “may still get COVID-19,” though they are “much less likely to experience severe symptoms than people who are unvaccinated.”