Top US infectious disease official Dr Anthony Fauci has said it is possible for Covid-19 to be reduced to an endemic illness from the current health emergency next year if the country ramps up vaccination rates, Reuters reports.

Booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccines are vital for reaching that point, Fauci said in an interview during the Reuters Total Health conference, which runs virtually from November 15-18.

"To me, if you want to get to endemic, you have got to get the level of infection so low that it does not have an impact on society, on your life, on your economy," Fauci said. "People will still get infected. People might still get hospitalised, but the level would be so low that we don't think about it all the time and it doesn't influence what we do."

If the United States makes boosters available for everyone, it is possible the country can get control of the virus by spring of 2022, Fauci added.

Read more here.

A file photo of top US infectious disease official Dr Anthony Fauci. — AFP
A file photo of top US infectious disease official Dr Anthony Fauci. — AFP

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