Getting a Coronavirus Vaccine May Not be Compulsory for Everyone, Says Fauci

coronavirus vaccine

As the race for the coronavirus vaccine reaches a later stage in its development, The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci believes the vaccine will not be mandated for the general public.

In an interview, he revealed his views saying he doesn’t think we’ll see the mandating of vaccines specifically for the public in general.

He explains that at times in the sector of health, like for instance a hospital at the National Institute of Health, someone who had not taken a flu vaccine would not gain permission to enter the given ward.

Fauci notes that one should never mandate and that he would be considerably surprised if the vaccine was indeed mandated for any given element of the general public.

Some experts question what the contingency plan is for those Americans that oppose the use of the vaccine.

Also Read: A Top Health Expert Resigns Over Ethical Concerns on Russian Coronavirus Vaccine

Fauci however believes there is no need for a contingency plan because people have every right to not get a vaccine shot. He says if a person does not want to get vaccinated, there is no way out of it because one cannot force someone to take a shot.

According to a Marist poll, 1 in every three Americans will refuse to get a coronavirus vaccine even if it becomes available. 60% of the people who voted on the poll however responded saying they would get vaccinated if the vaccine becomes available. 35% say they would not get it at all despite the death toll for coronavirus reaching a huge number of 780,000. The rest of the 5% of people on the poll answered that they were not yet sure if they would get it or not.

In a separate poll by Gallup, more than a third of people in America think they would not get a vaccine shot regardless of whether it was free or approved by the FDA.

An Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices which provides advice for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will take the responsibility for producing a wise decision as to who will get the vaccine first if it was proven effective and safe. Fauci added that there will also be a committee that will compliment the team and will be put together by the National Academy of Medicine.

Fauci personally feels optimistic that the coronavirus vaccine will eventually come around because the data from preliminary studies of phase I testing suggests that the vaccine managed to induce a level of antibodies that were seen as neutralizing in the Phase I volunteers. That data suggests better results than the plasma taken from people who have healed and recovered from the novel virus.

As for Russia’s claim regarding a successful vaccine was seriously doubted by Fauci. He does not think the claims hold much truth. He calls for people to be careful when they hear of such developments because taking risks to give vaccines to people without first confirming its safety or effectiveness is questionable.

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