Anthony Fauci says US govt won't make coronavirus vaccine mandatory for public

On August 19, United States' top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci said that the government will not make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for the general public. However, the government could make it mandatory for some groups using jurisdiction.  He said, "You don't want to mandate and try and force anyone to take a vaccine. We've never done that", during a video talk organized by George Washington University.

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'It would be unenforceable'

Fauci said, "You can mandate for certain groups of people like health workers, but for the general population you can't". Promoting the United States’ decade long decentralized system of government, and anti-vaccine sentiments, Fauci said, "It would be unenforceable and not appropriate".

The Russian Health Ministry, on August 15, confirmed that the country has already initiated the production of its COVID-19 vaccine, a development that comes days after Moscow announced ‘world’s first COVID-19 vaccine’. Named Sputnik V, the clinically approved vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been manufactured by the Gamaleya Research Institute in collaboration with the Russian Health Ministry. Reports suggest that the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, said that once coronavirus vaccines are approved, they will be mandatory for everyone in his country.

Read: Anthony Fauci Says Half An Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Would Be Enough To Control Crisis

Earlier this week, while speaking to an international media outlet, Fauci expressed hope that the COVID-19 vaccine should be made available by the end of this year ‘in a safe way’. The top US expert said that it shouldn’t take later than the start of the next year to get the vaccine, however, US President Donald Trump reportedly said that it may be ready by election day on November 3. As per reports, while speaking about the Russian vaccine candidate, Fauci said that just because there is a vaccine does not mean that it should be administered to the public. He added that the officials need to be looking if a vaccine is safe and effective before it is made available to the general public. 

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(Image Credits: PTI/AP)