Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Wednesday that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine would not give people a ‘free travel ticket’ as health officials announced the full vaccination of just 3.8 million Americans and saw hundreds of people get the jab in. the Dodger Stadium in severely affected California.
The country’s leading expert in infectious diseases appeared at a CNN Global Town Hall hosted by Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta when he answered a viewer’s question about when immunity begins after receiving the vaccine.
The retired nurse, Carole Gardner, explained to Fauci that she and her husband had not yet been able to visit their grandchildren. She explained that she and her husband would receive the second dose of Moderna vaccine on February 19th.
“When will we have immunity and when will we be able to travel?” Ask Gardner.
In response, Fauci said: “The maximum immunity starts about ten days to two weeks and then after the second dose … This will give you about 94-95 percent efficacy and a good safety profile.”
However, Fauci warned that it’s not a good idea to travel, period ‘.
Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccination would not provide a ‘free travel pass’
On Wednesday night, motorists were still lined up for COVID-19 vaccinations and tests in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
“We do not want people to think because they are being vaccinated that other recommendations for public health simply do not apply,” he continued.
“Being vaccinated therefore does not mean now that I have a free pass to travel, nor does it mean that I have a free pass to set aside all the social measures we are constantly discussing,” Fauci said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of motorists were seen queuing Wednesday night to be vaccinated at Dodger Stadium in the badly hit Los Angeles. More than 1 million cases were reported in Los Angeles County and at least 15,897 people were killed.
His remarks come just a day after Johnson and Johnson announced they would likely publish results from phase three trials of the coronavirus vaccine next week.
Its vaccination is cheaper and easier to store and transport, which, coupled with the fact that it requires only one dose, can help speed up the careful slow explosion of the American vaccine.
The 100 million doses that Johnson and Johnson promised to the US will increase US supply by about 25 percent.
However, President Joe Biden’s own COVID-19 response team conceded that it will take months before anyone who wants a vaccine can get one, and that ‘we will have unexpected problems’, said the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare. and Medicaid Services Andy Slavitt.
Earlier Wednesday, drivers were seen waiting in line at the mega COVID-19 vaccination site erected in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium.
Vaccinations began five weeks ago, but only 6.2 percent of the U.S. population received their first doses of Pfizer or Moderna’s dual-dose vaccinations. That equates to about 20.7 million who received at least one dose of the vaccine.
About 3.8 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This comes as the U.S. death toll rose to 428,654, including 3,990 new deaths. More than 25 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic.
It is encouraging that cases, deaths and hospitalizations last week were lower than in previous weeks, but it is still high with an average of 3,287 people dying per day.
Dozens of precious doses of the two vaccines were wasted because no one could be found taking it before it spoiled, or as a result of careless errors such as the freezers being disconnected.
Johnson & Johnson’s simpler single dose shot can be a great help in solving some of these problems. It has a contract for at least one million doses with the US and has promised to distribute one billion doses worldwide this year.
About 20.7 million received at least one dose of the vaccine. About 3.8 million people have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
Fauci said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being tested on the highly contagious ‘supercovidous’ variants of South Africa and Brazil.
But even if the results are positive, the FDA is expected to clear the vaccine for emergency use only in March, raising questions about why there should be a painful month-long delay.
Meanwhile, Biden has made a raid on the importance of its COVID-19 vaccination target and announced on Monday that it thinks the US could give more than 1.5 million vaccinations a day, up from one million.
At present, America inoculates an average of 1.27 million people a day. Supply can be the biggest obstacle to Biden’s goal of vaccinating and maintaining 1.5 million people a day.
Together, Moderna and Pfizer have promised to deliver 200 million doses by the end of March.
More than 25.5 million infections have been reported in the US since the start of the pandemic
Pfizer believes it can offer up to 20 million doses by that time, and the US is in talks with Moderna and Pfizer to purchase another 200 million doses (100 million each) to be available this summer.
But there is no stock. The federal government withholds enough supplies to cover doses of two to three days in the event of manufacturing interruptions.
Otherwise, it relies on manufacturers to maintain a constant stream of new doses to the state, Slavitt said.
He said the government was “confident” in these manufacturers, but even he acknowledged that there were likely to be production disruptions, and the government was only planning a slim cushion amid a rollout that had been chaotic so far. and left many states on the point. doses run out.