Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the public that there is a rise in COVID-19-related hospitalizations of fully vaccinated people but have not had their booster shots. Dr. Fauci announced on Nov. 17.
Dr. Fauci is the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease and said that those eligible should get the booster shot as soon as possible.
“What we’re starting to see now is an uptick in hospitalizations among people who’ve been vaccinated but not boosted,” he said. “It’s a significant proportion, but not the majority by any means.”
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, also spoke with the press has warned that there was a decline in the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine among older adults. Dr, Walensky added that the unvaccinated are more likely to be hospitalized.
“The rate of disease is markedly lower for those who received their booster shot, demonstrating our boosters are working,” she said. “Studies show that those who are unvaccinated continue to be more likely to be infected, more likely to be in the hospital and more likely to have severe complications from COVID-19.”
According to the CDC, the risk of death from COVID-19 for unvaccinated people is 11 times greater than for vaccinated people. Thirty-one million people are vaccinated with a booster from either Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson in the U.S.
Dr. Fauci also noted that COVID-19 would never be eliminated, but the goal is to contain it.
“We’ve eliminated diseases by vaccination, like polio in the United States, as it exists in other places. We’ve eliminated measles in the United States; it exists in other places. We’ve eliminated malaria years and years ago, but it exists in other places,” said Dr.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for adults 18 and older is expected to be approved soon by the Food and Drug Administration.
