FAUCI: REMARKS ON CHRISTMAS GATHERINGS WERE ‘MISINTERPRETED’

Anthony Fauci said Monday that his comments about it being “too soon to tell” whether it is safe to gather for Christmas were “misinterpreted” and that he in fact encourages people to do so.

What he said: “The best way to assure that we’ll be in good shape as we get into the winter would be to get more and more people vaccinated,” Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, said Monday on CNN.

“That was misinterpreted as my saying we can’t spend Christmas with our families, which was absolutely not the case,” he added. “I will be spending Christmas with my family. I encourage people, particularly the vaccinated people who are protected, to have a good, normal Christmas with your family.”

Comments in question: At issue is a comment Fauci made Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Asked by host Margaret Brennan if “we can gather for Christmas, or it’s just too soon to tell,” Fauci replied, “You know, Margaret, it’s just too soon to tell.”

“We’ve just got to [concentrate] on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time,” he added at the time.

The comments drew blowback from some Republicans. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb had also offered a differing take when asked about Fauci’s Sunday comments on CNBC.