Anthony Fauci: White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci recovering from vocal-cord surgery
Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious diseases official, said Wednesday the government wouldn’t make any future Covid-19 vaccine obligatory for the general public -- though local jurisdictions could make it mandatory for some groups, like children.
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading health experts during the country’s fight against the pandemic, underwent surgery on his vocal cords Thursday and is recovering at home, according to a person close to the infectious disease expert.
The 79-year-old Fauci underwent surgery to remove a polyp that can cause hoarseness, the person said.
“You don’t want to mandate and try and force anyone to take a vaccine. We’ve never done that,” said Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, during a video talk organized by George Washington University.
He’s expected to be back online by Friday and back at work running the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases by Monday, according to an agency spokeswoman.
“You can mandate for certain groups of people like health workers, but for the general population you can’t” he added, citing the example of the National Institutes of Health, where health workers can’t treat patients without a flu shot.
contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta tweeted that Fauci told him he was doing well. Doctors have suggested Fauci “curtail his talking for a while to allow his vocal cords to recover,” according to Gupta’s tweet.
Fauci, a member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, has made numerous, almost daily appearances since the beginning of the U.S. outbreak, speaking to George Washington University in a virtual Q&A as recently as Wednesday.
His advice has made him somewhat of a celebrity in recent months, at times publicly contradicting President Donald Trump’s position on reopening the economy and calling for the universal wearing of face coverings. Fauci has also worked closely on developing a Covid-19 vaccine in his role at the NIAID.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison hours earlier announced that coronavirus vaccines, once approved, would be mandatory for everyone in his country, barring medical exemptions.
But the United States’ decentralized system of government, and anti-vaccine sentiments that have been building for decades, had in any case made a program of mandatory immunization unlikely.
“It would be unenforceable and not appropriate,” said Fauci.
This however doesn’t prevent states from making a vaccine mandatory for children to attend school, as is already the case for certain diseases such as measles, though some are exempt for medical or religious reasons.
At any rate, the administration of President Donald Trump has pre-ordered hundreds of millions of vaccine doses from six companies, and these will be distributed for free.
