Over the weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on ABC News's "This Week," in which co-anchor Jonathan Karl asked the White House chief medical advisor if he agreed with President Joe Biden's opinion that a COVID vaccine mandate for domestic air travel "isn't necessary at this time." The 80 year old director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases appeared to have a differing view.
"A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated," Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted. "Namely, you can't get on a plane unless you're vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be."
Dr. Fauci's statement spurred critics to point out the NIAID director's agenda, arguing that "there's no medical reason for mandating them other than to get more people to take the jabs," NOQ Report said.
The report argued that paying close attention to Dr. Fauci's most recent statements reveal his "real agenda" that Americans are "not at greater risk of contracting COVID by being around the unvaccinated" and that the fears about unvaccinated folks are "scientifically unfounded." Furthermore, Dr. Fauci's admission has "everything to do with control and nothing to do with improving the general health prospects of the population."
Dr. Fauci remarked that for now, "anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome." He even argued against refraining from wearing masks on planes despite airline executives assuring that airplane filtration systems are robust enough to keep passengers safe.
According to The Hill, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly explained that masks "don't add much" because "99.97% of airborne pathogens are captured" by the plane's highly efficient filtration systems. Kelly explained, "The case is very strong that masks don't add much, if anything, in the air cabin environment. It's very safe, and very high quality compared to any other indoor setting."
Dr. Fauci, meanwhile, said that the "idea of taking masks off" is "really not something we should even be considering." CNBC reported that the NIAID director was concerned about the rising number of new COVID cases in America thanks to the highly transmissible but very mild Omicron variant.
As of Thursday, the U.S. recorded over 51 million COVID cases as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Fauci said that the weekly average last week was at 150,000 new cases, warning that "it likely will go much higher."
For prevention purposes, travelers coming into the U.S. are required to be fully vaccinated and show a proof of inoculation, as well as provide a negative COVID test taken within 24 hours of their incoming flight. The CDC said that travelers can be vaccinated with the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the three U.S.-authorized COVID jabs, as well as vaccines that the World Health Organization approved for emergency use, which are AstraZeneca, Covaxin, Covishield, BIBP/Sinopharm and Sinovac.
