CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Fauci on “State of the Union” if “once the process is complete, does that mean [people] can take off their masks, they don’t have to social distance, they can just go about their lives as before?”

“I would recommend that that is not the case. I would recommend you have an added area of protection,” Fauci replied.

“Obviously, with a 90-plus percent effective vaccine, you could feel much more confident. But I would recommend to people to not abandon all public health measures just because you have been vaccinated, because even though, for the general population, it might be 90 to 95 percent effective, you don’t necessarily know, for you, how effective it is,” he added…

“I could feel more relaxed, in essentially not having the stringency of it that we have right now, but I think abandoning it completely would not be a good idea,” he said.