'Put aside your mask' if vaccinated, outside -Fauci

"If you’re vaccinated and you're outside, put aside your mask," said Fauci. "You don't have to wear it."

Fauci, who is also the head of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said 264 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States.

U.S. states are set to begin using the vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE to inoculate younger adolescents against COVID-19 after advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backed the plan in a unanimous vote on Wednesday.

Fauci touted the safety of the vaccines with federal emergency use authorization but said parents were not wrong to feel concerned or question giving the vaccine to their children.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday authorized the vaccine for children aged 12 to 15, offering relief to parents eager to get their children back to schools and summer camps.