COVID

Fauci says Thanksgiving dinner safe for vaccinated people

"If you're vaccinated — and hopefully you'll be boosted too — and your family is, you can enjoy a typical Thanksgiving meal."

By Mia McCarthy

November 21, 2021

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Email

Dr. Anthony Fauci said typical Thanksgiving gatherings are safe for vaccinated people, during an ABC News “This Week” interview on Sunday.

“If you’re vaccinated — and hopefully you’ll be boosted too — and your family is, you can enjoy a typical Thanksgiving meal, Thanksgiving holiday with your family,” Fauci said in an interview with Martha Raddatz. “There’s no reason not to do that.”

Fauci said the data supports a small risk of serious infection for vaccinated gatherings, which would make a typical Thanksgiving gathering safe for vaccinated people.

“It’s absolutely clear. The likelihood of getting infected, getting hospitalized or dying, if you’re vaccinated versus non-vaccinated weighs very very heavily in the protection of the people that are vaccinated,” Fauci said.

On average, there are 92,580 new coronavirus cases daily across the country over the last week, according to New York Times data. In Massachusetts there were 2,581 cases reported last Friday, averaging 2,493 new daily cases over the last week.

Around 59% of the total US population is fully vaccinated while about 71% of Massachusetts residents are fully vaccinated.

Fauci said that the larger risk is Thanksgiving gatherings with unvaccinated people.

“The thing we’re concerned about is the people who are not vaccinated because what they’re doing is that they’re the major source of the dynamics of the infection in the community,” Fauci said. “And the higher the level of dynamics of infection, the more everyone is at risk.”