November 20, 2020 -- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) discussed the perils and opportunities of public trust during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially pertaining to the development of vaccines. The conversation took place on November 19 and was part of the Hastings Center's series Securing Health in a Troubled Time.
It is a difficult time to communicate important health messages amid such polarization, politicization, divisiveness within communities. But as Dr. Fauci explained, "Infectious diseases do not discriminate between one's ideology."
"We all have to be in this together," he urged. And in an effort to build public trust in vaccines, he provided clarity on certain facts surrounding accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development.
So, the open question that remains is how well the vaccines will prevent infection and what effect they will have on transmission within communities. Dr. Fauci noted that people must get a vaccine for it to be effective, and to achieve this the public must have trust in and rely on the science.