Dr. Fauci says life could return to normal late summer, “herd immunity” could be found in the fall

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Millions of Americans have now gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, whether it be the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, but Dr. Fauci said we have a long way to go.

“Hopefully, we can attain that sometime as we get into the summer, so that by the time we get to the fall we can have that umbrella of protection.”

Dr. anthony fauci | director | national institute of allergy and infectious diseases

WMBD-TV’s Shelbey Roberts and Matt Sheehan spoke with Dr. Fauci in an exclusive interview about when life will return back to normal.

“First of all, the one thing we need is to appreciate, we need to make sure that we overcome this vaccine hesitancy that we see in individuals, we need herd immunity where enough people are vaccinated where there’s enough protection,” Dr. Fauci said. “I estimate 70-85% of the population needs to be vaccinated before we get that herd immunity that protects the entire society. If we do a good job of getting people vaccinated, hopefully, we can attain that sometimes as we get into the summer, so that by the time we get to the fall we can have that umbrella of protection. But that’s going to be completely contingent on our success of getting the overwhelming majority of people vaccinated.”

Sheehan asked Dr. Fauci if he could shed some light on President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 plan moving forward, but Dr. Fauci said he would leave it up to Mr. Biden to share that information.

This is part two of the interview, the other segments can be found below.

Part 1: Dr. Fauci says U.K. strain more contagious, but not more deadly than original. Concerned about other strain in South Africa

Part 3: Reopening the country, WHO investigation into origin of COVID-19 in China.

Part 4: The impact of political divisiveness on the pandemic. Dr. Fauci also speaks about the personal impact the pandemic has had on him and his family. He said he and his family have received death threats.