Fauci: US could face ‘fifth wave’ of Covid as Omicron variant nears

  • Collins and Fauci emphasise need for vaccines and boosters
  • Warning that variant shows signs of heightened transmissibility
  • Coronavirus: live coverage

Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, said on Sunday the US has “the potential to go into a fifth wave” of coronavirus infections amid rising cases and stagnating vaccination rates. He also warned that the newly discovered Omicron variant shows signs of heightened transmissibility.

As Fauci toured the US political talkshows, countries around the world including the US scrambled to guard against Omicron, which has stoked fears of vaccine resistance.

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Fauci: US can get Covid under control by next year with more jabs

Top infectious disease official said if more Americans get vaccines and booster shots, the disease could be downgraded to endemic status

Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases public official in the US, said on Tuesday that if America further ramps up vaccination rates and those already immunized take booster shots that it is feasible Covid-19 could be reduced from a pandemic emergency to endemic status next year.

More than 70% of adults in the US are fully vaccinated. Fauci said if a lot more Americans take the vaccines, and if the US makes boosters available for everyone, the country could get control of the virus by spring of 2022.

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Fauci predicts Covid shots for kids five to 11 will be available by early November

Government’s chief medical adviser makes prediction after FDA review panel finds that benefits for group outweighs risks

Vaccines to protect children ages five to 11 from Covid-19 will be available in the US in early to mid-November, Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s chief medical adviser, predicted on Sunday.

A review panel of the US food and drug administration (FDA) found last week that the benefits of Pfizer-BioNTech shots for the younger age group outweighed the risks, setting up an advisory meeting on Tuesday of outside FDA experts who are expected to recommend emergency use authorization.

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Fauci: FDA vote against Covid booster shots ‘not the end of the story’

A decision not to recommend third-shot booster vaccinations for most Americans is “not the end of the story”, White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci insisted on Sunday, two days after a scientific panel appeared to turn the Biden administration’s plan for combating coronavirus on its head.

Related: Tate Reeves: Biden vaccine mandate an ‘attack on hardworking Americans’

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‘Maybe the guy’s a masochist’: how Anthony Fauci became a superstar

The US diseases expert has been spoofed by Brad Pitt and lauded as the ‘sexiest man alive’. Now the pop culture phenomenon is the focus of a documentary

Beer and bobbleheads. Candles, colouring books, cupcakes and cushions. Dolls, doughnuts, hoodies, mugs and socks. T-shirts and yard signs that declare “Dr Fauci is my hero” and “In Fauci we trust”.

Anthony Fauci, an 80-year-old scientist, doctor and public servant, has become an unlikely cult hero for millions of people during the Covid pandemic.

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‘Not even modestly good control’: Fauci says US Covid cases 16 times too high to end pandemic

Until cases dip to 10,000 a day, we are still in full ‘pandemic mode’, infectious disease expert says

The US has far too many cases of the coronavirus to see an end to the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Axios in an interview published on Thursday.

“The endgame is to suppress the virus,” Fauci said. “Right now, we’re still in pandemic mode, because we have 160,000 new infections a day.”

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Fauci says US could be back to normal by spring 2022 – if vaccinations take off

‘It’s up to us,’ Fauci says as infectious Delta variant feeds surge in cases, with a majority of hospitalisations and deaths are among unvaccinated people

The US could have the Covid pandemic under control and achieve a return to “normality” by next spring, Dr Anthony Fauci said, if the “overwhelming majority” of the population is vaccinated.

Related: Biden hails announcement as FDA gives full approval to Pfizer’s Covid vaccine

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