Dr. Fauci asks Americans to ‘double down’ before vaccines arrive

Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. infectious disease expert, spoke at the coronavirus task force briefing asking all Americans to ‘double down’ before the vaccines arrive.

Video Transcript

ANTHONY FAUCI: We now, as the vice president said, are telling you that help is on the way, which has two aspects to it. It means that we need to actually double down on the public health measures as we're waiting for that help to come, which will be soon. We'll be getting vaccine doses into people at high priority at the end of December.

We're not talking about shutting down the country. We're not talking about locking down. We're talking about intensifying the simple public health measures that we all talk about, mask wearing, staying distance, avoiding congregate settings, doing things to the extent that we can outdoors versus indoors. If we do that, we'll be able to hold things off until the vaccine comes.

Now, I've used that metaphor that the cavalry is on the way. If you're fighting a battle and the cavalry is on the way, you don't stop shooting. You keep going until the cavalry gets here, and then you might even want to continue fighting. And then finally, one other final thing about it, the very impressive efficacy 94.5% and 95% of a vaccine should motivate individuals to realize that this is something you want to participate in.

So we're going to be talking to you about it, likely here, in the future, about why it's important, as these vaccine doses roll out why we have to do two things, continue the public health measure, and get vaccinated when the vaccine becomes available. Thank you.