The White House chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Thursday that it is “very likely” that family members who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus will be able to hug each other safely.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases explained that what vaccinated individuals can safely do with their families and in a public environment is very different.
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If an individual is vaccinated and with another person vaccinated, the things they can do are “much, much more liberal in the sense of removing stringent public health measures,” said Fauci during an interview with MSBNC with presenter Andrea Mitchell.
People wait in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site installed in a park in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, February 9, 2021. (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong)
However, when you are in “society”, the safety of a vaccinated individual is not as guaranteed if only a small portion of the population has been vaccinated, he said.
“For example, if you are vaccinated and have a family member vaccinated – someone [who] didn’t live with you – can you really be with them without a mask? Can I sit and hug them and stuff? And the answer is very likely, of course you can. “
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“But if only 10% of the society gets vaccinated, you will not be able to go to a restaurant or a theater because it will not debut,” he told Mitchell. “So, that’s the reason … you have to separate what you can do in a certain vacuum and what you can do in society.”
On Friday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said about 42 million people had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of these 17 million people have been fully vaccinated.
Although receiving the vaccine does not mean that an individual cannot be reinfected, it dramatically reduces the chance and severity of an infection.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95% effective in protecting against the COVID-19 virus, although the CDC and Fauci still require that immunized people continue to take precautions such as wearing masks and social detachment.
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As states transition to different phases of vaccine distribution, the dangerous winter climate has hampered the process in almost all 50 states.
White House coronavirus consultant Andy Slavitt said on Friday that about six million doses had been postponed due to bad weather and that 1.4 million of them are already in transit while working to clear the buildup.