During a White House briefing on Monday, Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that “breakthrough infections” would still surface after vaccination, The Hill reported.
“No vaccine is 100 percent efficacious, or effective, which means that you will always see breakthrough infections, regardless of the efficacy of your vaccine,” he said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pointed to examples of such breakthrough infections in other vaccines used in both clinical trials and the real world, such as flu shots.
Flu Vaccines Often See Breakthrough Infections
As Fauci noted, flu vaccinations are only 40 to 60 percent effective due to the rapid mutation of the flu virus throughout the year. Due to this, many people with flu shots still experience breakthrough infections.
Nevertheless, the flu vaccination has the added benefit of acting as a preventative against serious disease.
“If you get vaccinated, no doubt, you’re less likely to get the flu. But even if you do get the flu and get sick, vaccination can reduce the severity and duration of illness, and could help get you out of trouble.”
Fauci Believes U.S. Will Return To ‘Some Degree Of Normality’ By The End Of Summer
In a recent interview with Business Insider, Fauci suggested that the United States might return to “some degree of normality” by the end of the summer.
Nevertheless, Fauci underlined two crucial factors that will determine how long it takes for America to return to pre-pandemic life.
“If we get the overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated, and it turns out how I suspect: that vaccinated people don’t transmit.”
According to Business Insider, both of these variables appear to be “trending in a positive direction.”
Fauci’s Comments Come Amid A Debate Over Vaccine Passports
As noted by Breitbart, Fauci’s comments come amid a debate over vaccine passports, which have received support from President Joe Biden and various Democratic governors.
Conversely, Republican governors — including Ron DeSantis — have expressed opposition to the proposal. Notably, DeSantis signed an executive order barring the use of passports in the state.
As The Inquisitr reported, Fox News host Tucker Carlson suggested that vaccine passports will fuel conspiracy theories centered around Bill Gates, which suggest he is trying to microchip Americans via vaccinations.
Fauci Addressed The Confusion Around A Recent Variant Study
An Israeli preprint study recently found that the B.1.351 variant might be able to breakthrough protection offered by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Fauci noted that the study is a preprint — it has not undergone the standard peer review — and also claimed the paper was “as confusing as you possibly could be.”
In particular, Fauci said the study made it sound that people who received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are more susceptible to contracting the B.1.351 coronavirus variant — which is purportedly not true.
