Fauci says it’s ‘too soon’ to say if Americans can gather for Christmas
Chief White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that it’s “too soon to tell” whether Americans should gather for Christmas this year, as he spoke about the coronavirus pandemic and what to expect in the coming months.
“It’s just too soon to tell. We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time,” Fauci said on CBS’ “Face The Nation,” after anchor Margaret Brennan asked if Americans will be able to gather for Christmas.
“Let’s focus like a laser on continuing to get those cases down. And we can do it by people getting vaccinated. Also, in the situation where boosters are appropriate, to get people boosted, because we know they can help greatly in diminishing infection and diminishing advanced disease.”
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Fauci received criticism on social media for his comments.
“It’s bad enough that Fauci says these ridiculous things, but it’s worse that journos keep framing questions to him as if he has any say over whether we get together for Christmas,” Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote, according to Fox News.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans avoid traveling for Christmas. “The best thing for Americans to do in the upcoming holiday season is to stay at home and not travel,” Henry Walke, CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, said at the time, The Hill reported.
In the United States, there have been over 42.9 million reported COVID-19 cases thus far, with 688,099 deaths counted as being from COVID-19 as of Monday, according to WHO, which also says, as of last Thursday, a total of 398,284,216 vaccine doses had been administered.
An investigative report found that states are counting deaths by suicide, murder and auto accidents as deaths from COVID-19, inflating death totals.
Dr. Fauci told CBS that complacency needs to be avoided. “We need to continue to get those individuals, now 70 million people who are eligible to be vaccinated, vaccinated.”
Fauci supported President Biden’s vaccine mandate, which requires federal employees, contractors and private employers with 100 workers or more to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for the novel coronavirus.
“I think what the president said about companies greater than 100 individuals is a good thing, and you’re seeing also local groups, universities and businesses are doing that, mandating vaccines in particular,” Fauci said.
However, in August, when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked about requiring members of Congress to be vaccinated, she responded, “We cannot require someone to be vaccinated. It’s just not what we can do,” Forbes noted.
The vaccination status of members of Congress, she added, “is a matter of privacy.”
Several governors and members of Congress denounced Biden’s plans.
“I will pursue every legal option available to the state of Georgia to stop this blatantly unlawful overreach by the Biden administration,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts also responded, saying: “This plan isn’t about public health — this is about government control and taking away personal liberties. Americans, not the federal government, are responsible for taking charge of their personal health.”
