Fauci admits Covid vaccines were 'not 100%' effective against virus transmission

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who previously led the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases prior to his retirement, testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday, telling Congress that he does not believe any vaccine is "100 percent effective" and that the Covid vaccine had "limited" protections.

"The vaccines saved millions of lives and I want to thank you for your support and engagement on that. However, despite statements to the contrary, it did not stop transmission of the virus. Did the COVID vaccine stop transmission of the virus?" subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup asked.

Fauci said it was a "complicated issue," saying that the first iteration of the vaccines "did have an effect — not 100 percent, not a high effect — they did prevent infection and subsequently, obviously transmission."

"However, it’s important to point out something that we did not know early on that became evident as the months went by, is that the durability of protection. against infection and hence transmission was relatively limited, whereas the duration of protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and deaths was more prolonged," said Fauci.

He continued to state that this was not known in the beginning, and that "in the beginning, it was felt that in fact it did prevent infection and thus transmission but that was proven as time went by to not be a durable effect."

"Yeah, it definitely had positive effect for many people, especially those that were vulnerable," Wenstrup said. "But we knew from the trials that people that got vaccinated still were subject to getting COVID. So was the COVID vaccine 100 percent effective?"

"I don't believe any vaccine is 100 percent effective," Fauci responded.

Fauci admitted in a January hearing with the subcommittee that there was no scientific evidence supporting the Covid-era "social distancing" rule or guidelines requiring children to wear medical face masks in school. The transcripts of that hearing were released late last month. In the hearing on Monday, Fauci clarified that those guidelines came from the Centers for Disease Control.

"It just sort of appeared," Fauci admitted when asked about how the social distancing rule came to be, per the transcript. "I don’t recall, like, a discussion of whether it should be 5 or 6 or whatever."

He noted that proving a specific distance was best to prevent the spread would be "very difficult."

Fauci also stated that the science behind requiring children wear masks was still "up in the air," adding that he did not "recall specifically" reviewing any studies or data supporting such an action.