Fauci: The United States is Making Progress Against COVID-19

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief health advisor to the U.S. president, stated on Sunday that "the United States is making progress" in the fight against the coronavirus, noting that this is evident from the decline in daily infection rates and hospital admissions "significantly," for the first time in three months. However, Fauci conditioned, in an interview with ABC News, "the continued reduction in infections on the continuation of vaccinations." He warned about the possibility of infections rising again, affirming, "But we have now seen nearly 20 months of sudden increases that rise and then fall, and then return again; the way to keep them (low) is to vaccinate people." He stated, "When you have 70 million people in the country who are eligible for vaccination and have not yet been vaccinated, that is a danger zone." Last week, deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States exceeded 700,000 since the virus appeared there, and Fauci indicated that these numbers confirm that "this virus is the most frightening." Fauci expressed his support for "mandating the vaccine for school students eligible to receive it." He noted the positive initial results of trials on Merck's COVID-19 drug, but emphasized that "the drug will not be a substitute for the vaccine." Initial trials showed that the drug could reduce the chances of hospitalization due to a COVID-19 infection by about 50%.