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Anthony Fauci, who’s led the US response to COVID-19, said that it’s ‘more and more difficult’ to get Americans to listen.
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“Even the people who are compliant want this [pandemic] behind them,” Fauci told Politico.
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Fauci said ‘simple’ steps like getting vaccinated and boosted will reduce your risk of getting seriously ill.
More than two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s chief medical advisor says it’s now difficult to get even the most COVID-conscious Americans to follow pandemic guidelines.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to get people to listen, because even the people who are compliant want this behind them,” Anthony Fauci said in an interview with Politico. “What I try to convince them [of], with my communication method, is we’re not asking you to dramatically alter your lifestyle. We’re not asking you to really interfere with what you do with your life. We’re just asking you to consider some simple, doable mitigation methods.”
Fauci’s latest battle has been convincing Americans to get their COVID-19 booster shot.
The Omicron BA.5 variant of COVID-19 is currently the dominant strain in the US, and has a greater ability to evade immunity, leading Fauci and other officials to urge the importance of getting boosted last week.
“Variants will continue to emerge if the virus circulates globally and in this county,” Fauci said during that press conference. “We should not let it disrupt our lives, but we cannot deny that it is a reality that we need to deal with.”
Less than half of fully vaccinated Americans have received their first booster dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 28.5% of people over 50 and 35.2% of people over 65 have received a second booster.
Read the original article on Business Insider