Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is predicting the United States will ultimately leave the decision to receive a vaccine for COVID-19 up to the individual.
During a live-streamed interview with Healthline, Fauci was asked if he foresees the vaccine being mandated for any population, including children who go to school.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see a mandating of vaccine particularly for the general public,” Fauci said.
He added, “Sometimes in the health sector, like in my hospital here at NIH, you’re not going to be allowed to go on the ward unless you get a flu vaccine. But, you would never mandate, at least I do not think you would, I’d be pretty surprised if you mandated it for any element of the general public.”
Watch his comments below:
Fauci noted patients have every right to refuse a vaccine.
“If someone refuses the vaccine in the general public, then there’s nothing you can do about that. You cannot force someone to take a vaccine,” Fauci said.
His comments come just days after Russian President Vladamir Putin announced his country had registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine.
During a National Geographic panel discussion on Wednesday, Fauci expressed his concerns with Russia’s announcement, as IJR previously reported.
While Fauci said he hopes “that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective,” he “seriously” doubts they have.
When pressed about the vaccine, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stressed it is not about being first, as IJR previously reported.
He said, “The point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world.”
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for an end to “vaccine nationalism” on Tuesday.
He claimed the pandemic is only getting worse as countries prioritize their interest in acquiring a vaccine over others.