Fauci: Whatever vaccine is available, take it
Dr. Anthony Fauci says if a coronavirus vaccine is available, regardless of which one, take it.
The top U.S. infectious disease expert told NBC鈥檚 鈥淭oday鈥� show that a third vaccine becoming available 鈥渋s nothing but good news鈥� and would help control of the pandemic. U.S. regulators announced Wednesday that Johnson & Johnson鈥檚 single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe COVID-19. It鈥檚 expected to be approved soon by the FDA.
Fauci warns people not to hold off on getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while waiting for the slightly more effective two-dose Pfizer or Moderna shots.
He says it鈥檚 a race 鈥渂etween the virus and getting vaccines into people鈥� and 鈥渢he longer one waits not getting vaccinated, the better chance the virus has to get a variant or a mutation.鈥�
Fauci says public health officials are always concerned about virus variants and stressed following public health measures of wearing masks and social distancing.
The predominant coronavirus variant in the United States is from Britain. Fauci says the vaccines distributed in the U.S. 鈥渃learly can take care of that particular strain.鈥�