Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned the public to keep health measures at the top of mind, even as vaccines start rolling out.
Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and an infectious disease expert, said on Monday that he encourages everyone to maintain standard precautions, including masking, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings until the vaccine has been distributed to the point where the public health threat level becomes low.
“A vaccine, right now, is not a substitute for the normal standard public health measures of wearing a mask, keeping your distance, avoiding congregant crowded sections, particularly indoors,” Fauci told MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson. “It’s not a substitute. It complements it only when you get the level of infection in society so low that it’s no longer a public health threat can you then think about the possibility of pulling back on public health measures. But certainly, we’re not anywhere near there yet.”
Fauci said it might take several months into the second half of 2021, or even longer, to get back to the kind of society seen before the pandemic.
The first vaccinations were rolled out in the country on Monday for healthcare workers. Sandra Lindsey, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, was one of the first recipients who publicly took the vaccine.
The nurse told the public shortly after receiving the vaccine that she was hopeful for what was to come.
“I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a painful time in our history,” Lindsey said.
COVID-19 has infected over 16 million people in the United States and has killed nearly 300,000 people.
