People should expect to wear masks and social distance through the end of 2021 and into 2022, Dr. Fauci Said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of America’s leading public health experts, said recently that even after a coronavirus vaccine is developed, Americans will likely need to continue wearing masks and practicing social distancing for quite some time.

In fact, people should expect to wear masks and social distance through the end of 2021 and into 2022, he said.

Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the comments during a Zoom meeting with faculty and students at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia last week.

During the meeting, in which Fauci also predicted any forthcoming vaccine will only be 70% effective, he noted that masks and social distancing will be needed because it will take significant time before herd immunity is achieved.

“You’re not going to have a profound degree of herd immunity for a considerable period of time, maybe toward the end of 2021, into 2022,” he said. “I feel very strongly that we’re going to need to have some degree of public-health measures to continue. Maybe not as stringent as they are right now.”