Fauci believes the worst of COVID pandemic could be ahead
Posted : 2020-12-28 15:04
Updated : 2020-12-28 15:04
In this Dec. 22, 2020, file photo Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar before receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. AP-Yonhap
Dr. Anthony Fauci expects more dire days ahead as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on through the holidays.
The infectious diseases expert told CNN he agrees with President-elect Joe Biden s estimation that the worst of the pandemic could be ahead of us.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that he did not deliberately move the goalposts for when the country would reach herd immunity, saying he was only offering guestimates before.
Fauci told New York Times that when polls said only about half of Americans would get the vaccine, he lowered the numbers to only 70 to 75 percent to reach herd immunity.
However, when more people started saying they will get vaccinated, Fauci also bumped up the herd immunity estimate to about 80 percent. We have to realize that we have to be humble and realize what we don t know. These are pure estimates, Fauci said.
12:16 p.m. ET, December 28, 2020
The House will vote this afternoon to override Trump s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act
From CNN s Lauren Fox Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
Following President-elect Joe Biden s remarks this afternoon on national security, the House is set to vote at 5 p.m. ET on two key items, one of which will test the loyalty of the Republican Party to President Trump.
The House will vote to override the President s veto on the National Defense Authorization Act. It will require a two-thirds majority vote. Republicans in leadership haven t whipped the bill. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said that he won t vote to override Trump s veto even though he voted for the underlying bill.
Jason Garza for The Texas Tribune
Originally published on December 23, 2020 9:25 am
When Julieta Hernandez began hearing the first rumblings about a COVID-19 vaccine soon arriving in Texas, the Rockport writer and bartender had no doubts that she would get her shot when her time came.
And then she sat down to breakfast with her vegetarian parents, lifelong believers in homeopathic treatments with a deep skepticism for vaccines and mistrust in the government.
“You’re not planning on getting that, are you?” they asked her.
Now, Hernandez, 22, is on the fence, feeling guilty because she knows “it’s the right thing to do” but wanting to trust her parents and her own naturalistic upbringing.