Dr. Fauci Gives Health Update After Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine

Dr. Anthony Fauci is doing just fine several days after receiving the first dose of the two-part Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Fauci gave an update on his health in an appearance on CNN's State of the Union on December 27, revealing that the side effects he experienced from the vaccine were mild. "The only thing I had was 6-10 hours following the vaccine I felt a little bit of an ache in my arm that lasted maybe 24 hours, a little bit more," he said. "Then went away and completely other than that I felt no other deleterious types of effects."

Fauci continued, "It was really quite good, it was even as good or better than an influenza vaccine. Nothing serious at all. Perhaps when I get the boost I might feel a little aching because the immune system will be revving up even more but I'll be getting that in about three weeks."

Fauci, an infectious disease specialist and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has been urging people that it's important to get the vaccine when it's available to them and to continue taking other precautions to slow the spread of COVID-19 such as wearing masks and social distancing.

He has also expressed concern that people will be afraid of taking the vaccine, calling it his "biggest fear." "I think there are going to be many people who don't want to get vaccinated right away," he told The Daily Beast. "But once you get, you know, tens of millions of people vaccinated, it looks like it's working and it's safe, then I think we'll win over a large proportion of the rest of the population, who might have some hesitancy about getting vaccinated."

While many people have already taken the vaccine, Fauci warned that this is not the time to be complacent. "And the reason I'm concerned and my colleagues in public health are concerned also is that we very well might see a post-seasonal, in the sense of Christmas, New Year's, surge, and, as I have described it, as a surge upon a surge, because, if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we have experienced as we have gone into the late fall and soon-to-be-early winter, it is really quite troubling," he told CNN. "We are really at a very critical point... as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse."