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Appearing on ABC's This Week, Fauci made the comment while answering Jonathan Karl's question on the possibility of introducing a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel.
'We want to make sure people keep their masks on. I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering,' Fauci said.
Earlier this month, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in front of a U.S. Senate panel hearing that masks 'don't add much, if anything' to protect airline passengers from spreading COVID.
'And of course, the airline CEOs were suggesting that — you know, that we may not — may no longer need a mask. I hear you loud and clearly, you disagree with that on an — on the airplane,'
Fauci disagreed with the airline executive's view and then mentioned the possibility of introducing a vaccine mandate for domestic and international air travel to increase the percentage of vaccine rollout across the U.S.
'A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated; namely, you can't get on a plane unless you're vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be,' Fauci said.
'So I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome. But with regard to the spread of virus in the country, I mean, I think if you look at wearing a mask and the filtration on planes, things are reasonably safe,' he continued.
Overall, 204,740,321 Americans or 62 percent of the population have received both COVID-vaccine doses.
As of Dec. 21, 62,211,823 Americans had received a booster, or 30.4 percent of the country's fully vaccinated population, according to the CDC's data.
Fauci says we should not 'even be considering' removing masks on planes and calls for unvaccinated passengers to be barred from flights
- CDC Director Dr Anthony Fauci said that the idea of removing masks off during air travel 'is really not something we should even be considering'
- Fauci also mentioned the possibility of a vaccine mandate for domestic and international air travel to increase the percentage of vaccinated Americans
- On Dec. 15, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in front of a U.S. Senate panel that masks 'don't add much, if anything' to protect passengers from COVID-19
- As of Dec. 21, 62,211,823 Americans had received a booster, or 30.4 percent of the country's fully vaccinated population, according to data from the CDC
- Fauci added that mandatory facial-wearing on airplanes might be here to stay forever
Appearing on ABC's This Week, Fauci made the comment while answering Jonathan Karl's question on the possibility of introducing a vaccine mandate for domestic air travel.
'We want to make sure people keep their masks on. I think the idea of taking masks off, in my mind, is really not something we should even be considering,' Fauci said.
Earlier this month, Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in front of a U.S. Senate panel hearing that masks 'don't add much, if anything' to protect airline passengers from spreading COVID.
'And of course, the airline CEOs were suggesting that — you know, that we may not — may no longer need a mask. I hear you loud and clearly, you disagree with that on an — on the airplane,'
Fauci disagreed with the airline executive's view and then mentioned the possibility of introducing a vaccine mandate for domestic and international air travel to increase the percentage of vaccine rollout across the U.S.
'A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to have a mechanism that would spur them to get vaccinated; namely, you can't get on a plane unless you're vaccinated, which is just another one of the ways of getting requirements, whatever that might be,' Fauci said.
'So I mean, anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome. But with regard to the spread of virus in the country, I mean, I think if you look at wearing a mask and the filtration on planes, things are reasonably safe,' he continued.
Overall, 204,740,321 Americans or 62 percent of the population have received both COVID-vaccine doses.
As of Dec. 21, 62,211,823 Americans had received a booster, or 30.4 percent of the country's fully vaccinated population, according to the CDC's data.
