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\"There are certain elements about this that were just unavoidable, in the sense that there were going to be deaths, there were going to be a lot of infections globally, no matter what anyone did. But there were situations where we could have done better, and we can do better, and I think we're living through that right now,\" Fauci said, again pointing to eligible Americans who have not gotten vaccinated.

\"When you say 'Are some of those deaths avoidable?' They certainly are. In fact, looking forward now, most of the deaths could be avoidable if we get people vaccinated,\" he said.

One state taking action to increase vaccinations is California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a new requirement for all eligible students in the state to get vaccinated without a testing opt-out.

While some parents have expressed their outrage over the move, Fauci argued that the requirements are really nothing new.

\"I have been and I still am in favor of these kinds of mandates. You can make some exceptions to them, but in general, people look at this like this is something novel and new, when in fact, throughout, you know, years and years, decades, we have made it a requirement for children to get into schools to get different types of vaccines -- measles, mumps, rubella and others,” he said.

“So when people treat this as something novel and terrible -- it isn't. A requirement for children to come to school, to be vaccinated with certain vaccines, is not something new. It's been around for a very long time,\" Fauci continued.

\"PHOTO:
Joshua Roberts/Getty Images, FILE
PHOTO: Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci speaks after a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing in Washington, June 26, 2021.
>

While increasing vaccinations remain the priority for the Biden administration, Fauci also noted the positive preliminary results of a new antiviral drug from the pharmaceutical company Merck, which showed it could lower the risk for hospitalization or death for someone infected with COVID by 50%.

Fauci stressed the drug would \"absolutely not\" be a replacement for getting vaccinated but said the future implementation of the drug held a lot of promise.

“It's a big deal, Jon, I mean you have now a small molecule drug that can be given orally,\" he said, \"and the results of the trial that we just announced yesterday and the day before, are really quite impressive.\"

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