Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and infectious Diseases, said the U.S. getting the coronavirus pandemic under control may require “many, many more vaccine mandates.”
Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CNN on Sunday that stronger measures may be in order if vaccine holdouts can’t be swayed by health officials and “trusted political messengers.”
“I believe that’s going to turn this around because I don’t think people are going to want to not go to work or not go to college …They’re going to do it,” Fauci told CNN’s Jen Christensen. “You’d like to have them do it on a totally voluntary basis, but if that doesn’t work, you’ve got to go to the alternatives.”
Biden announced last week announced a sweeping new six-part plan to combat rising COVID-19 cases nationwide — including vaccine requirements for federal workers, private sector employees and health care workers.
As of Monday, only about 54% of the total U.S. population, or roughly 179 million people, have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
