Dr. Fauci Reacts to Trump’s Vaccine Comments, Says Omicron Cases Will ‘Likely Go Much Higher’ [VIDEO]

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home rapid tests to Americans beginning in January. The tests will be delivered by mail to Americans who request them. A website to request the tests will launch in January, according to the administration. But the Omicron surge created a massive rush for tests as Americans prepared to see relatives for the holidays, and they instead faced empty pharmacy shelves and massive test lines.

As the “extraordinarily contagious” omicron variant surges across the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that COVID-19 cases will likely continue to climb. “Every day it goes up and up. The last weekly average was about 150,000 and it likely will go much higher,” Dr. Fauci told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl during an appearance on Sunday.

Only 61.7% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to CDC data. Many Americans remain against COVID-19 vaccines over one year into their use. And the Omicron surge doesn’t appear to sway unvaccinated Americans. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll this week, just 12% percent of unvaccinated Americans polled said the variant makes them more likely to get a vaccine.

Dr. Fauci and former President Obama visited Kimball Elementary School to talk about the importance of COVID vaccines for kids and the grown ups in their lives.

Everyone 5 or older is eligible. Find vaccines near you at https://t.co/jDq2UIHFmT. #WeCanDoThis pic.twitter.com/lTjXHi4BXn

— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) December 22, 2021

Donald Trump showed his support for vaccinations, who has spread conspiracy theories about vaccines and didn’t get vaccinated publicly, showed his support for COVID-19 vaccines in a Wednesday interview with The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens, saying, “The results of the vaccine are very good. … People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

Candace Owens is doing damage control after “so many donors and supporters” are upset over Trump’s vaccine comments. She says he is old, isn’t tech savvy, doesn’t keep up with or read obscure internet conspiracies, and only follows the main stream media so doesn’t have the facts. pic.twitter.com/XAuTFfellE

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 24, 2021

Karl asked Dr. Fauci whether Trump’s supporters might listen to that message. “I think that his continuing to say that people should get vaccinated and articulating that to them, in my mind is a good thing. I hope he keeps it up,” Dr. Fauci responded, adding that he was surprised when Trump was booed by some of his supporters in Texas last weekend after the former president revealed he’d gotten his booster shot.

Dr. Fauci tells @jonkarl that “we've got to be careful that we don't get complacent” about battling omicron, even if data from other countries might show a lesser degree of severity.

“It might still lead to a lot of hospitalizations in the United States.” https://t.co/PwmAfo0sUB pic.twitter.com/e6gOJ0yeg0

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 26, 2021

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“I was stunned by that,” Dr. Fauci said. “I mean, given the fact of how popular he is with that group, that they would boo him, which tells me how recalcitrant they are about being told what they should do.”

As the "extraordinarily contagious" omicron variant surges, Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that COVID-19 cases will likely continue to climb.

"Every day it goes up and up. The last weekly average was about 150,000 and it likely will go much higher." https://t.co/KHUGrhxlzo pic.twitter.com/JIXT4IRTdl

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 26, 2021

Watch Dr. Fauci’s segment, below.