FULL vaccination is more effective than wearing a mask to combat the highly contagious Delta Covid, Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Thursday, as the US prepares for further outbreaks.
Fauci and Centers for Disease Control Dr. Rochelle Walensky issued the warning after a 10 percent spike of positive cases hit the nation.
Amid the spike, the two health experts spoke at a White House press briefing on Thursday and explained that the World Health Organization (WHO’s) new recommendations.
WHO had announced that vaccinated people should start wearing masks earlier this week as a result of the high spread of the Delta variant.
Fauci said that these guidelines are meant for areas with low vaccination rates, however, and that vaccinated residents are protected from the variant.
Dr. Fauci said: “You have a broad recommendation for the country as a whole that, if you are vaccinated, you have a high degree of protection, so you need not wear a mask indoor or outdoor.
“But also as it’s been said and as the CDC has recommended, there’s a degree of flexibility,” he added.
“People at the local level, depending on the on-ground situation, will make recommendations or not according to the local situation.’
Americans must receive both doses of a mRNA vaccine—Pfizer or Moderna—to be 96 percent protected by the virus and Delta variant which is now believed to account for a fifth of the new COVID infection cases in the US.
“Right now, we know as we look across the globe that less than 15 percent of people around the world have been vaccinated, and many of those people have only received a one dose of a two-dose vaccine,” Walensky said on the TODAY show on Wednesday.
“There are places around the world that are surging, and so as the WHO makes those recommendations, they do so in that context,” she continued.
While two thirds of the adult population is fully vaccinated and protected from the variants roaming around the United States, Walensky said that the United States is fortunate to have three vaccines that have proven to be safe and effective.
“Those masking policies are not to protect the vaccinated, they’re to protect the unvaccinated,” Walensky stated.
According to recent CDC data on June 30, approximately 11 percent of the world has been jabbed compared to 47 percent of the American population.
To celebrate the success of reducing COVID-19 cases in the United States, the Biden Administration is arranging a 1,000-person Fourth of July gathering on the White House lawn with essential workers and military personnel.
“Right now it’s an appropriate time to step back and celebrate the progress we’ve made; at the same time, we’ve got a lot more work to do,” White House COVID-19 senior adviser Jeffrey Zients urged.
