All across the country,
hospitalizations are rising due
to COVID, the flu and RSV.
And those numbers
are expected
to continue to increase
even more as people
are gathering together for the h
of course.
So what is driving at all?
Well, just before air, I talked
Anthony Fauci about this,
as well as his imminent retireme
as director of the National Inst
of Allergy and Infectious Diseas
What?
And Dr.
Fauci,
we now have these
three respiratory viruses
just overwhelming hospitals.
And I've heard many a doctor
and hospital administrator,
quite frankly,
say that
what we're looking at
is really unprecedented times he
If an immunity gap
is some of what's driving this.
When do you think we close this
or do you think this is the new
with this convergence of these v
No, it
doesn't have to be the new norma
for the simple reason
that we have good countermeasure
for at least two out of those th
and the three you're referring
to is COVID influenza
and respiratory syncytial virus.
We've got to get people
to get vaccinated further
to protect them.
Their family and society
We have a vaccine for flu
and we're having a pretty bad
and early flu season.
If you look at the trajectory
of the flu, it's
almost a vertical line upward.
But we have a flu vaccine
that is matched
well to the circulating strain.
So there's no reason at all
not to get a flu vaccine
in the same holds.
True for the COVID booster,
that is the updated
B, a four or five bivalent
that's available,
but unfortunately only about 13%
of the eligible people
in this country have received th
Now, RSV is a different story.
We don't yet
have a vaccine for RSV,
but with regard to respiratory h
and wearing a mask
appropriately in an indoor setti
I'm not talking about mandating
I'm talking about the common sen
of when you go into
a congregate setting, particular
when you have a lot of infection
like that,
that you think about the possibi
of wearing a mask
and one of the somewhat
encouraging things is that RSV i
It is.
It is particularly for young chi
and for the elderly.
We have peaked there.
It looks like
it is starting to come down.
So let's hope
it continues
to have a trajectory downward
so we don't have a challenge wit
as much as we had
over the past few weeks.
It's good to see that
that there may be some hope
there on that one,
at least in the interim,
that they can be taking down,
at least on one of these viruses
One thing
I wanted to ask you about,
because I've been long intereste
is I know the
NIH is studying
the phenomenon of long COVID,
and the CDC
just put out a report
saying that long COVID
has played a part
in the deaths of more than 3500
so far as they've been studying
in the pandemic.
It's really the first
kind of official attempt
to quantify the number
of long COVID deaths
What is your biggest question
about what still remains quite a
with long COVID?
Yeah, it is.
It is a
post acute viral syndrome that i
It can be mild
in the sense of having people
have a lingering fatigue
for a period of weeks to months.
But it also
in some individuals
can be rather incapacitating.
In fact,
even as you
said, rarely,
but leading to a series disease
and sometimes death,
but rather than then,
then the mortality of it.
The thing that we're concerned a
if you look
at the fraction of people
and the fraction
varies depending
upon what you look at
regarding
criteria can be anywhere
from 5% to up to 15 or more per
giving the sheer volume
and the quantitative nature
of the number of people
who are infected,
even if a small, small percentag
get long COVID
That's a lot of people
whose lives actually will be imp
in a negative way
by the persistence of these symp
It's estimated
that about a million people
in this country
cannot work,
go back to their former employme
because of the post
COVID long COVID syndrome.
So it's something that you're ri
it's a bit mysterious.
We don't know the precise
pathogenic mechanism.
There's a lot of work
going into
trying to figure that out
because if you want to
do something about it, either to
or to treat it,
you've got to understand
what the underlying mechanisms a
We're making some progress there
but we still don't fully underst
Yeah, and really,
no other virus
in recent
history has become
so politicized, as is COVID 19.
I mean, you have found yourself
we've talked about this many tim
at the center
of some of that angry debate.
Elon Musk
just came at you and attacked yo
But the latest now, Dr.
Fauci, is Florida Governor Ron D
He's now
asking the Florida Supreme Court
to greenlight an investigation
into in the way he put it.
Is any any and all wrongdoing in
with respect to COVID 19 vaccine
What's your reaction to that?
I don't have a clue, Kate.
What he's asking for.
I mean,
we have a vaccine that unequivoc
is highly effective and safe
and has saved
literally millions of lives.
The commonwealth's fund
has come out with a report
just this past week
that vaccinations
that have been administered
over this period of time,
this last year and a half to two
has saved 3.2 million lives.
18 million hospitalizations
and approximately $1 trillion in
So what's the problem with vacci
I mean, vaccines are lifesaving.
So, quite frankly, Kate,
I'm not sure what what
they're trying to do down there.
It kind of gets at a bigger issu
I've been wanting to ask you, as
in one of our final interviews
in in your role in public
health is just the
one result of the pandemic has s
that science has become a divisi
topic, politicized and
weaponized by some people
Have you thought about
how do you pull that back?
How do you turn that around?
You know,
Kate, if I had an easy answer, I
give it to you.
But it's a very difficult situat
You're absolutely correct.
It has been politicized
and it has been politicized in a
that has actually caused lives,
because if people don't get vacc
which unequivocally is lifesavin
because of political ideology
or because of misinformation
and disinformation, that causes
And we've just got to get
the American public, regardless
of whether you lean left, you le
It doesn't matter at all.
We're all in this together.
We're all human beings
and we're all susceptible to dis
that can kill us.
So if ever there was a time in s
when we need to pull together
and recognize
that the common enemy is the vir
not each other,
we've got to get people
to appreciate that.
You know,
like I said, I don't have an eas
how we're going to do that.
But when people's
lives are being lost about this,
maybe that'll shake people up en
to realize that
we've got to start pulling toget
and not against each other.
I'm sure you have started
kind of reflecting
I know you wrote a very interest
long piece,
kind of a farewell piece
in The New York Times,
a message
to the next generation of scient
but it has been a wild ride
at the tail end of your very lon
in public health.
I mean, as you head off,
would you say you're more optimi
or pessimistic
when it comes
to public health
and the role
that it will continue to
play in our lives?
Well, I am.
And generally
quite a cautious optimist about
And I hear as another example
is I really am cautiously optimi
because I believe
that the better angels in societ
will prevail.
We're a good people in this coun
And although there's divisivenes
I believe we're going to pull ou
because if you look at
what science has done
and with science
applied to public health has don
it has saved millions of lives
in our country.
And throughout the world.
So I do hope we pull together
and realize, as you say,
although it's been a rocky road
over the last three years,
we know what happens
when you all pull
together, lives get saved,
and that's what we're all about.
And that is the necessary
collaborative work between scien
and public health.
It's great to have you.
Thank you, Dr. Fauci.
Thank you for having me.
Good to be with you.