America’s top doctor who helped the nation battle its Covid crisis has encouraged Australia to use celebrities and sports stars to help get vaccination rates up among young people, as well as opening jab hubs at stadiums.
Dr Anthony Fauci, 80, oversaw America’s relentless Covid crisis last year, when there were more than 4,000 deaths a day and daily new cases were in excess of 250,000.
Since then, a massive US vaccine rollout program has seen the number of cases and deaths drop dramatically, although new cases have since crept back up to around 80,000 a day with a new surge caused by the impact of the Indian Delta variant.
Deaths in the US have however remained relatively low compared to 2020, with a current peak of around 650 a day, and confined mainly to those who are not yet vaccinated.
Now Dr Fauci, US chief medical adviser and director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has told Australia to do everything it can to get the nation jabbed, with a special focus on young people.
Dr Anthony Fauci (pictured right with President Donald Trump) encouraged Australia to follow America’s lead and use Instagram and rappers to convince young people to get vaccinated
Unlike Australia, America manufactured a range of vaccines and has had no supply issues, meaning anyone who wanted a dose has been able to get one.
President Joe Biden brought in a rapid rollout program using pharmacies, mobile units and pop-up walk in clinics at stadiums and parking lots to reach around 93 million people in record time.
But the bigger problem is now vaccinating those who have yet to get a jab, especially the young – and who appear unlikely to come forward any time soon.
‘We’ve got to get trusted messengers out there – clergy, family physicians, sports figures,’ he told ABC’s 7.30.
‘We’re doing the young, because we only have about 40 per cent of the young eligible vaccinated.’
Australia is suffering a series of brutal lockdowns (pictured, a closed pub in Fairfield in Sydney’s south-west on Thursday) while much of the rest of the worst is opening back up
Dr Anthony Fauci, seen here on ABC’s 7.30, oversaw America’s massive Covid crisis of last year when there were more than 4,000 deaths a day and daily new cases were in excess of 250,000
He said it was vital for children to be vaccinated as they will become superspreaders if left to develop the disease.
‘I know it’s controversial,’ he admitted. ‘We feel you really need to get the children vaccinated.
‘They will get infected, they will spread it inadvertently and innocently because most of them would likely not get severely ill.
‘They could be asymptomatic spreaders, so we’ve got to get the kids vaccinated because this is a very, very transmissible virus.’
He added: ‘We’re doing things like getting rap groups and Instagram groups and people like that who interact with younger people.
A massive US vaccine rollout program has seen the number of cases and deaths drop dramatically (pictured, a dose of AstraZeneca being given in Sydney on Wednesday)
‘We’re really putting in, in basketball analogy, a full court press to get this done.’
In the US, 20 per cent of all the new infections are in Florida, with similar numbers in Texas where the resistance to the vaccine has been strongest.
But Dr Fauci warned time may be running out for anti-vaxxers and hesitaters.
At the moment in the US, vaccines have only been given emergency use authorisation to bring them in quickly because of the scale of the Covid crisis when they were developed.
However he says that once they are fully approved by federal authorities, it will be a game-changer for mass vaccination and herald the start of mandatory vaccinations.
‘Because it’s still on an emergency use authorisation, authorities at local level are hesitant to mandate vaccines because they’re afraid of the legal implications,’ he said.
Unlike Australia, America has had no supply issues with access to vaccine doses meaning anyone who wanted one could easily get one. Pictured is Prime Minister Scott Morrison who has been criticised for Australia’s slow vaccine rollout
The Indian Delta variant has seen a surge in case numbers in NSW since the current outbreak began in Sydney on June 16 amid a lagging vaccination rollout
‘If they don’t have a licensed vaccine, someone can sue you for trying to force you.
‘However, once you get a vaccine fully approved, you are going to get universities and colleges which will say “if you want to be in our institution, you’ve got to get vaccinated”.
‘That will encompass a substantial proportion of the young people.’
Dr Fauci said big business will soon follow.
‘You will get major industries – oil companies, Amazon, Microsoft, whatever it’s going to be, I don’t know…I’m just naming them empirically,’ he said.
‘[They] are going to say, “If you want to work in our place, you are going to have to get vaccinated.”
‘I think that’s going to go a long way of getting to those people who still don’t want to get vaccinated.’