NIH Director: Proof of Vaccination is a “Step in the Right Direction”

As cases and hospitalizations increase across the country, Dr Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on Sunday that companies asking employees for proof of vaccination or regular testing were taking steps “in the right direction. “.

“I think anything we can do to encourage reluctant people to get vaccinated – because they will want to attend these public events – is a good thing,” Dr Collins said on “State of the Union” “from CNN.

Dr Collins said he was happy to see companies like Disney and Walmart asking their employees for the shots. And he expressed his support for President Biden’s decision this week, forcing federal workers to get vaccinated or, “if they don’t, have regular testing, which is inconvenient.”

“I think all of these steps are going in the right direction,” Dr Collins said.

When asked if airlines should require proof of vaccination for passengers, Dr Collins said the decision was up to the airlines, but it could motivate people to get vaccinated if they want to be able to travel. .

Proposals for businesses and government agencies to recommend or require employees to get vaccinated have arrived as coronavirus infections escalate across the country. In the past two weeks, new infections have increased 148% in the United States and hospitalizations have increased 73%, according to New York Times data.

The outbreak has been largely attributed to the highly contagious Delta variant and low vaccination rates in some states.

In an interview on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Dr.Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stressed the importance of getting more Americans vaccinated as the country faces a more contagious variant of the virus, involving the unvaccinated in the increase in Delta cases.

“We really need to change their minds, make it easier for them, convince them, do something to get them vaccinated, because they are the ones who are spreading this epidemic,” he said.

Dr Fauci also discussed this week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for Americans to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, in areas with high transmission rates. The recommendation was issued a few days before the agency published a report, Friday, suggesting that fully vaccinated people are able to transmit the virus to others as easily as unvaccinated people.

“We are now dealing with a virus which has an extraordinary ability to spread from person to person,” he said. “So when you stack on top of each other you have a very difficult situation, a breeding ground of unvaccinated people and a virus that spreads very efficiently.”