Coronavirus czar Anthony Fauci was forced to walk back his prediction that COVID-19 would not be “under control” until fall of 2022, and said he doesn’t believe the U.S. will have control of the virus until spring of 2022.
Dr. Fauci says that if the majority of Americans get vaccinated, covid-19 will be under control by the “spring of 2022” pic.twitter.com/Kic7noOFm9
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 24, 2021
Fauci initially told NPR that normalcy won’t be possible until fall of 2022 because of the so-called delta variant, which has led left-wing politicians to renew calls for controversial mask and vaccine mandates.
“If all things go the way we want them to go and we get really the overwhelming majority of people vaccinated, I think as we get into the fall and winter, we could start to really get some good control over this as we get back into the fall of 2022,” he claimed.
However, the next day, Fauci admitted to CNN that he “misspoke.”
“I have to apologize,” he said, “I meant to say the spring of 2022, so I did misspeak.”
Fauci’s frequent flip-flopping on health guidelines and regular goal-post shifting has been a source of widespread criticism, particularly given his lack of candor about the Wuhan lab leak that likely was the source of the pandemic and America’s role in supporting Chinese gain-of-function research.
When asked what would need to happen for the U.S. to “get control” of the virus, Fauci said there would need to be a sufficient “degree of overall blanket protection of the community.”
He refused to say exactly what percentage of the population would have to get vaccinated to achieve this protection, but just said a “majority” of Americans would need to get the shot.
According to data from the federal government, more than 60% of the American population has received at least one shot, which means Fauci’s majority has already been reached.
Fauci refused to say whether this majority would be enough, though.
“In all transparency and honesty, we don’t know that because we have not been to the point where we got there, then fell below and then see the virus come back,” he said.
