Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned that officials are starting to see some waning immunity against both infection and hospitalization with the vaccines, and has urged people to get the booster shot.
During a November 12, 2021, appearance on The New York Times’ podcast The Daily, Dr. Fauci said the following:
“They are seeing a waning of immunity not only against infection but against hospitalizations and, to some extent, death, which is starting to now involve all age groups. It isn’t just the elderly. So, if one looks back at this, one can say, ‘Do you know?’ It isn’t as if a booster is a bonus, but a booster might actually be an essential part of the primary regimen that people should have.”
Fauci says it appears the COVID vaccines are no different than other vaccines that need boosters. At around 10:05 in the podcast, Fauci urges skeptical members of the public to wait for more data to come in on vaccine immunity:
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“It’s waning to the point where you’re seeing more and more people getting breakthrough infections, and more and more of those people who are getting breakthrough infections are winding up in the hospital. So, I think it would be a misrepresentation … to say that the vaccines don’t work. I don’t think we’ve [been] given … the full reign to prove what it is that you need to make them work. … It’s my scientific opinion and projection that boosters will be an essential part of the protection.”
He then offered a solution to this problem by promoting booster shots.
“If one looks back at this, one can say, do you know, it isn’t as if a booster is a bonus, but a booster might actually be an essential part of the primary regimen that people should have,” he said. “I think … that the boosting is gonna be an absolutely essential component of our response, not a bonus, not a luxury, but an absolutely essential part of the program.”
[Update: This article has been updated to correct some errors in the original reporting. Dr. Fauci was endorsing booster shots and was not claiming that the vaccine itself was ‘dangerous’.]
