Dr. Fauci on why the U.S. is 'out of the pandemic phase'

[Ms. Toad]

34. It's not either/or. It's and.

Both vaccination, as a primary tool - and other means to prevent transmission. Vaccination, alone, doesn't prevent transmission - and (without masking) may actually increase transmission by people who have COVID - since vaccinated people are as contagious as unvaccinated, and are more likely to experience mild symptoms and attribute COVID to something else - and to just plow through it like they would a common cold.

As to data, thank you for making my point - there isn't enough data yet to know what happens long-term. What we do know about duration is that the consequences (and long COVID) last as long as we have been able to study them. Until we have more long-term data, the data we do have (i.e. the science) suggests this is not an innocuous disease, which is over once the virus clears the body. Until proven otherwise, we need to focus not only on mitigating the worst immediate symptoms, but also preventing transmission to minimize the class of people likely to have long-term consequences. Suggesting that the pandemic is over will have the opposite effect, as did the May announcement that certain classes of people no longer needed to wear masks.

As to common - from a medical perspective, when 10% of a population (in this case the population of people who have had COVID) develop something it is common.