WASHINGTON - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, repeated a stark warning this week that the omicron variant will likely infect most Americans, but he noted how those who are fully vaccinated and boosted face a much lower risk of getting seriously ill."Omicron, with its extraordinary, unprecedented degree of efficiency of transmissibility, will, ultimately, find just about everybody," Fauci told the Center for Strategic and International Studies in an interview published on Tuesday."Those who have been vaccinated, and vaccinated and boosted, would get exposed.
Some, maybe a lot of them, will get infected but will very likely, with some exceptions, do reasonably well in the sense of not having hospitalization and death," he continued.
His comments echoed a similar remark from Janet Woodcock, the acting head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who told Congress this week that the highly transmissible omicron strain will infect "most people." Woodcock also stressed that the focus should turn to ensure that critical services can continue uninterrupted."I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get COVID, all right?" Woodcock said during a hearing. "What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function — transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens."Fauci, who also serves as the president’s chief medical adviser, was later asked about Woodcock’s remarks and emphasized how COVID-19 will never be eradicated.
But with the shots, the risk of hospitalization and death greatly decreases."What she was referring to is that virtually everybody is going to wind up getting exposed and likely get.