“We are not where we need to be if we’re going to be able to, quote, ‘live with the virus,’ because we know we’re not going to eradicate it,” said Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a White House adviser.
There will be more variants of the virus, according to Dr. Fauci, and the American public has not widely accepted available interventions. Only 67 percent of the population has been vaccinated and half of those have received a booster shot, he said.
Dr. Fauci encouraged individuals to keep COVID-19 part of the public discourse, saying the pandemic has revealed the “very best” of the healthcare profession.
“When it is being confronted with a whole wave of misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories, it understandably confuses the general public,” Dr. Fauci said. “So we have got to be continuing to outreach and respect the questions and the uncertainty that the American public has. Don’t blow it off. Don’t disregard it.”
