Anthony Fauci will give a final White House briefing
Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, January 21, 2021.
Jonathan Ernest | Reuters
Dr. Anthony Fauci will give what is expected to be his final public briefing on the Covid-19 pandemic on Tuesday as the White House’s chief medical adviser.
Fauci announced earlier this year that he would step down in December after being the public face of the response to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States for more than two years.
He will provide an update alongside Dr Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force. They are expected to encourage people to get their Covid boosters and flu shots as soon as possible.
Public health officials have repeatedly warned that the United States will likely face another wave of Covid this winter as people travel and congregate for the holidays.
The new boosters, which target the omicron BA.5 variant, were quickly deployed in an effort to avoid a major surge. But only around 11% of eligible people have received their vaccine so far.
The United States is already facing a severe flu season, with hospitalizations at their highest in a decade.
And respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is hospitalizing children at a much higher rate than during pre-pandemic seasons.
Hospitals and emergency services are increasingly taxed by people seeking treatment for respiratory illnesses.
Children’s hospitals last week called on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency to provide more flexibility to deal with the influx of patients.
cnbc
