Fauci: In the Absence of Vaccination, Lockdowns Were Necessary

WALLACE: “There was a study that came out recently that said that nine out of ten people that are dying in this country are over 65. Looking back, and I understand that this has been a dynamic situation that’s changed over time, could we have been less restrictive about schools and less restrictive about closing down the economy and focused, if not from the very start, earlier on, on the elderly?”

FAUCI: “You know, in the absence of vaccination, that would have been very difficult to do. But right now that you have the ability to vaccinate people, you can actually clearly be much more liberal and open in what we’re doing, which is where we are really right now. But in the very beginning, when essentially everyone was at risk of infection, you could pass it on to someone else inadvertently, innocently, and have that person suffer a dire consequence. So when you’re dealing in the beginning, it was like a tsunami that you needed to shut off quickly and then open up as quickly as you possibly can.”