Dr. Anthony Fauci has stressed that COVID-19 vaccines would be the country's fastest path back to normalcy.
On "CNN Newsroom" at the weekend, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged Americans to remember that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations are only temporary and will be relaxed as more Americans get vaccinated and rates of new infections fall.
"No, this [COVID-19 pandemic] is not going to last forever, because every day that you get four million, three million people vaccinated, you get closer and closer to control," Fauci told CNN.
As vaccination rates increase across the U.S., the CDC is providing further guidelines on what fully vaccinated Americans can do.
On Friday, the agency published a long-awaited update to its travel guidelines for fully vaccinated citizens, removing certain testing and quarantine recommendations. It considers someone fully vaccinated two weeks after they've received the last required dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, but travel is still not recommended while the U.S. sees an increase in Covid-19 cases.
People who have been fully vaccinated against the virus, according to the agency, can gather safely both indoors and without masks.
Meanwhile, in the face of relaxed state restrictions across the country, President Biden has urged Americans to continue adopting social distancing and masking guidelines.
Health authorities have warned that a new wave of infections is on the way, as many states in the U.S. loosen restrictions on public life. The rate of new COVID-19 infections increased toward the end of March, but it has yet to reach the levels seen by officials in the fall and winter.
"What we're saying is double down, just hang in there a bit longer," Fauci said, "There's no doubt the vaccine is going to win out."
