-Our next guest is the director
of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.
Here's Dr. Anthony Fauci!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Oh. Thank you so much for being here.
-Good to be with you, Jimmy.
-I appreciate this.
Where are you coming to us from?
From Washington?
-Yeah. Bethesda, Maryland,
just a little bit north of Washington,
which is the headquarters of the NIH.
-Ah. What foods are in Bethesda?
-Excuse me?
[ Laughter ]
-What foods you like over there in Bethesda?
I thought you were going to say D.C.
I was going to bring up a Ben's Chili Bowl or something, but --
-[ Chuckles ]
Well, this is Maryland, so crabs are in right now.
-Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, alright. [ Cheers and applause ]
I'm happy to be talking to you.
And it's almost bizarre talking to you
because I'm talking to you on the screen.
Normally, I'm watching you on the screen talking to me,
so this is a little bizarre.
But I just wanted to thank you for getting us through this --
or almost through this pandemic
and everything you've done for us.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Because, gosh, you were there every step of the way.
And you're really, like, such a welcome face
to see on the screen
and someone that talks with common sense.
We just all appreciated it.
And I just want to thank you, on behalf of many Americans,
but definitely me.
-Thank you, Jimmy. That's very nice of you.
Thank you.
-You have a new administration now.
You have President Biden and Kamala Harris.
How's it been going working with them?
-Very well, actually.
You know, the issue here is that everything we do
is based on science and evidence and data.
And right now, the major thrust of what we're doing
is implementing the vaccine plan of getting people vaccinated,
which has really been quite successful.
The numbers of infections in this country
are going down substantially, related to the fact
that we now have about 50-plus percent
of the adult population is fully vaccinated,
and about 64% of the population of adults
have had at least one dose of a two-dose regimen.
We want to hit 70% of the adult population
vaccinated by July 4th.
Several states, about 14 states, have already done that.
So we're really continuing to emphasize the need
and the importance to get vaccinated,
not only for your own safety and health,
but for that of your family,
as well as the community in general.
-That's why you're on our show tonight.
We want to tell all of our viewers out there
to get vaccinated and get those numbers up.
We're very close. I don't know if you --
Of course you heard the news. But New York --
[ Laughter ]
Maybe I'm the first person to tell you, but...
[ Laughter ]
...New York has hit 70%.
So, yeah. We're pretty --
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You know, that's really --
Jimmy, that's really good news for New York.
I mean, they have gotten
a good component of their people vaccinated.
That means that they will be able to open
and get things back to normal in a much safer environment
than if there were very low level of vaccinees.
So that's really the answer.
California's doing the same thing.
Today, Governor Newsom is just right on the same track
as New York, as the same thing.
So, if the people want to get rid of constraints,
they want to get back to normal, to do things that we all love,
get vaccinated, and we'll get us there.
That's the answer to all of this.
-That's right. Now, this --
Let's talk a little about, the Biden administration
is calling this month the National Month of Action.
-Right.
-Because we got to get those numbers to 70%?
75$?
-Well, we want to go above that.
The goal, Jimmy, is to get us to 70% of the adult population
vaccinated by the 4th of July.
But that doesn't mean we want to stop there.
We want to keep going beyond the 4th of July
and get more and more people vaccinated,
because when you get
the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated,
then there's no way that that virus is going to resurge again.
I mean, that's the answer.
It has been traditionally, with other infections, diseases,
and we're seeing now every place
that there has been an increase in the percentage of vaccine,
there has been a concomitant diminution
and decrease in the number of infections.
So we really want to go all the way.
We don't want to stop at 75% or 80%.
We want to get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can.
And that's what we're talking about this Month of Action,
the march towards getting more and more people vaccinated.
-Well, I hope everyone that watches our show hasn't had one
thinks again and gets one and gets vaccinated.
Let's get that number up.
And like you said, don't stop at 70%.
Go past 70%.
And I -- Well, speaking of not stopping,
you have not stopped, buddy.
And I got to say, that's pretty awesome.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Don't stop.
Don't stop. You're fantastic.
-I'm not going to stop, Jimmy, don't worry.
-I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
-Thank you. -Dr. Anthony Fauci, everybody.