“I am in favor of more mandate” at local levels: Fauci

The director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says there should be more COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was speaking on State of the Union when Jake Tapper asked him if he supports local vaccine mandates at places like schools and businesses.

“I do believe at the local level there should be more mandates,” Fauci said.

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“We’re talking about life and death situation. We’ve lost 600,000 Americans already and we’re still losing more people. There’ve been 4 million deaths worldwide, so I am in favor of that.”

Director Anthony Fauci says some groups are hesitant to mandate vaccines because they have not been fully approved. He says the data behind the vaccines is robust and there’s no need to be panic over coronavirus vaccines.

“The amount of data right now that shows a high degree of effectiveness and a high degree of safety is more than we’ve ever seen with emergency use authorization,” he said.

“These vaccines are as good as officially approved, with all the Is dotted and the Ts crossed.”

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Fauci said they haven’t received full approval due to processes that have to take place at the FDA but that “it’s as good as done.” He predicted that once they are formally approved, there may be more local mandates.

About 59 percent of the US population is completely vaccinated, but this is well short of the objective of 70 percent vaccination by July 4. Vaccine apprehension is being combated by health professionals, notably among Republicans and young people in the United States.

On Saturday, a large crowd cheered when the United States failed to reach its immunisation goal during a Conservative Political Action Conference event in Dallas, Texas. Fauci described the reaction as “horrifying” on CNN.

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“They are cheering about someone saying that it’s a good thing for people not to try and save their lives,” he said.

Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images