Anthony Fauci
Anthony FauciDozens of public health officials arrested during pandemic Novavax coronavirus vaccine candidate begins phase two tears Trump ‘failure’ on COVID-19 will be central message of Biden convention MORE, the nation’s top expert in infectious diseases, said Tuesday that he does not require the US to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I do not think you will ever see a mandate of vaccines especially for the general public,” Fauci said during a livestreamed interview with Healthline.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, notes that some workplaces, particularly those in health care fields, may prevent staff from coming to work or interacting with patients if they have not been vaccinated against the flu.
Schools generally require students to be vaccinated against measles and other infectious diseases before they are allowed to attend classes.
But Fauci said he “would be quite surprised if you mandate it for every element of the general public.”
There are several vaccine candidates in clinical trials, and some look promising to provide a level of protection against COVID-19.
Although no vaccine has yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), experts are already figuring out how to convince the American public to get vaccinated.
Vaccine hesitation has been a public health issue for a number of years, especially among parents of young children, in part due to the rise of misinformation on social media.
Polls have also shown that people of color are less likely to want to be vaccinated, which experts say can be explained by mistrust in a public health infrastructure that has a history of abuse and discrimination.
One of the most notable examples of the mistreatment of people of color in the health care system is the Tuskegee syphilis study, in which African American men were told that they receive free health care from the American Public Health Service. In fact, they were infected with syphilis and were not treated.
People of color still oppose racism in health care settings and differences in access to health care in the US
A Gallup poll released earlier this month found 1 in 3 Americans would not receive a COVID-19 vaccine today if it were free and approved by the FDA.
Twenty-seven percent of white Americans said they would get the vaccine, compared to 59 percent of non-white Americans. People living in rural areas said they were less likely to be vaccinated than people living in small towns, suburbs or large cities.
Asked what the US could do about people who refuse to be vaccinated, Fauci replied: ‘They have the right to refuse a vaccine. I do not think you need an event plan. If someone rejects the vaccine in public, there is nothing they can do about it. You can not force anyone to take a fax. ”
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