Fauci urges more testing to track breakthrough Covid cases
The infectious disease expert warned of a potential future variant that could “impact the vaccinated because that variant could evade the protection of the vaccine.”
Anthony Fauci urged on Sunday that more coronavirus testing be done among vaccinated people to learn more about breakthrough cases.
“We know now from experience here and other countries that you will have people who are asymptomatic who get into contact with an asymptomatic person who is infected, and you’ll know there will be more infections that otherwise would have gone undetected,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We need to do more testing.”
Fauci explained that early on in the pandemic, the protocol was to test people who had been in contact with others who were infected with Covid-19 or symptomatic. Now, he said, “It’s very clear you have to go beyond that.”
With the Delta coronavirus variant on the rise, people are concerned that they are at risk even after becoming fully vaccinated. Some people hesitant to get vaccinated may be swayed if the Food and Drug Administration issues its first full approval of a Covid-19 vaccine — likely Pfizer’s — which Fauci hopes will happen this month.
“Fortunately for us, the vaccines do quite well against Delta particularly in protecting you from severe disease,” Fauci said. “But if you give the virus the chance to continue to change, you’re leading to a vulnerability that we might get a worse variant and then that will impact not only the unvaccinated, that will impact the vaccinated because that variant could evade the protection of the vaccine.”
“So,” he added, “people who were unvaccinated should think about their own health, that of their family, but also the community responsibility to crush this virus before it becomes even worse.”
Fauci said that even though breakthrough cases among vaccinated people will occur because “no vaccine is 100 percent protective,” vaccinated people are protected “extremely well” from getting severe disease. The bad news is, if a vaccinated person does become infected, they can transmit Covid-19 to both unvaccinated and vaccinated people.
Fauci said he was “very concerned” about another surge in cases coming from the current Sturgis Motorcycle Rally taking place in South Dakota — an event expecting about 700,000 people. Last year, the rally led to a breakout of the virus.
“To me, it’s understandable that people want to do the kinds of things they want to do,” Fauci said. “They want their freedom to do that, but there comes a time when you’re dealing with the public health crisis that could involve you, your family and everyone else — that something supersedes that need to do exactly what you want to do.”
“Let’s get this pandemic under control before we start acting like nothing is going on,” Fauci said.
“Something bad is going on,” he added. “We’ve got to realize that.”