Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading disease and infectious expert, shared his fears over the COVID-19 vaccine after the U.S. FDA granted emergency use authorization.

Dr. Anthony Fauci
(Photo : Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted recently an emergency use authorization Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccination will begin next week but Dr. Anthony Fauci shared his fears over Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine that might affect the effect of vaccination in the country.

Fauci shared fears about COVID-19 vaccine

More than a dozen biotechnology companies, researchers, and scientists around the world started to develop a vaccine that would end COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March.

After nearly 10 months, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech successfully developed its vaccine and have now received emergency authorizations from different countries.

The U.S. FDA granted Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization on Friday. Following this, many health experts including the country's leading disease and infectious expert Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed their optimism about the vaccine.

However, Dr. Fauci also shared his fears over the vaccine.
 
"My primary biggest fear is that a substantial proportion of the people will be hesitant to get vaccinated," he also said that there are going to be many people who don't want to get vaccinated right away.

Meanwhile, the infectious disease expert also said that once people will know that tons of billions of people are vaccinated and they will find out that the vaccine is safe and effective, then many Americans will also want to get the vaccine days after. 

Read Also: US Advisory Panel Endorses Widespread Use of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine 

Vaccine hesitancy among Americans

According to The Daily Beast, vaccine hesitancy has been at the forefront of conversations among the coronavirus task force members for months.

Dr. Fauci also urged the state governors to start talking publicly about the vaccine the companies who were working on it, and the iron-clad process one would have to go through in order to get approval from the FDA. 

He also said that the more that officials began to ramp up messaging about how safe and effective the vaccine is, the better.

However, Dr. Fauci is also worried that Americans will not show up during the vaccination. That is why he emphasized that the presence of healthcare workers who are set to receive the vaccine next week is very important. 

"That's the reason why we've got to make sure we get the health care workers the proper information."

He also assured that there is nothing to worry about the speed on how the vaccine was developed, because it is related to the extraordinary scientific advances in platform technology.

First group to receive the vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already identified a group of people who will first receive the vaccine.

They are those who fall under Tier 1a and they are they will start to receive the vaccine next week or on Monday. 

Meanwhile, those who belong outside the first priority tier will begin receiving the vaccine at the end of March or the beginning of April.

Additionally, people who do not have underlying conditions or who are not elderly are not going to get it for months.

Read also: Why Wearing a Mask Is Still Important After Getting a Vaccine