Fauci says ‘we have the tools to protect ourselves’

With the United States facing the threat of yet another coronavirus variant before holiday gatherings, Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday acknowledged that Americans are suffering from “COVID fatigue” but said, “we have the tools to protect ourselves.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” Fauci, the government’s leading infectious disease specialist and an adviser to President Joe Biden, again urged Americans to get vaccinated, seek out shots for their young children and obtain boosters that may offer “optimal protection” against the new omicron variant.

Vaccination alone could “go a long way to getting us through this cold winter season, which clearly is associated with a spike in respiratory illnesses,” he said, noting that 60 million Americans are still not vaccinated and some 100 million vaccinated individuals are eligible for boosters. Much remains unknown about omicron as scientists race to study it, and the delta variant is still the dominant version in the United States.

The initial regimen for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines calls for two doses a few weeks apart and for one shot of Johnson & Johnson’s, but preliminary data indicate that a booster shot raises protection against the omicron variant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week that it had detected 43 infections with the omicron variant in 22 states during the first eight days of December; most had been among vaccinated individuals. Only one-third of the individuals infected with the omicron variant reported having traveled internationally, indicating the variant is already circulating locally within communities.

“If you look at the data, it more and more becomes clear that if you want to be optimally protected you really should get a booster,” Fauci said. “We absolutely know it dramatically increases the level of protection, but from an immunological standpoint, it could very well increase the durability of protection.”

Although it remains possible that additional boosters could ultimately be necessary in the future, Fauci said that he is hopeful a booster now “will give a much greater durability of protection than just the six months or so.”

Some experts say that in general, a longer interval between doses may provide a stronger and longer-lasting immunity, giving the immune system time to mature.

Fauci’s remarks came as the nation approaches 800,000 virus deaths and a total of 50 million cases. As of Saturday, there was a daily average of more than 1,200 new deaths and more than 119,000 new cases nationwide, according to a New York Times database.