U.S. could control COVID by spring 2022 -Fauci

A day after Pfizer won full FDA approval for its two-dose vaccine, President Joe Biden's top medical officer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Tuesday that the United States could get COVID-19 under control by the spring of 2022 with more potential vaccine approvals.

FAUCI: "We can end this as a pandemic even sooner..."

Later on Tuesday, when asked about that timeline during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing, Fauci said that if more Americans got vaccinated now that Pfizer's vaccine has full approval, then the end of the pandemic could come earlier.

FAUCI: "I would like to appeal to this country, to the people in the country who are not vaccinated to realize that we have the capability among ourselves... Get vaccinated and the timeframe will be truncated dramatically."

Fauci said he expects the vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson to secure full FDA approval "relatively soon" - possibly within several weeks to one month - and approval for young children possibly this fall.

CDC DIRECTOR ROCHELLE WALENSKY: "CDC reported 157,000 new cases of COVID-19."

New infections, hospitalizations and deaths are climbing across the U.S., especially in southern states where vaccination rates are lower.

Meanwhile, renewed spikes in COVID-19 cases - driven by the highly infectious Delta variant - are being reported all over the world.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of the World Health Organization's emerging diseases unit and technical lead on COVID-19 said the virus continues to evolve and that wearing masks and working from home were still necessary to slow the spread.

MARIA VAN KERKHOVE: "Some people feel that this pandemic is over. And some people are acting like this pandemic is over. And I'm afraid it's far from over. It's not. So, keep it up."