Dr Anthony Fauci on Sunday rejected proposals that the US delay the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines so that more Americans could get their first chance, and said the country’s supply problem would be solved long before researchers could study the proposal.
“If you really want to study it – the amount of time it will take, the amount of people you will have to do in the study – by that time, we are already in the arena to have enough vaccinations to go around,” he said. Fauci told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“It would be nice to know if you give just one dose, how long the durability lasts and what the effect is, but what we have now and what we have to go with is the scientific data we have accumulated,”
The best doctor’s comments on the infectious diseases come in response to expert Michael Osterholm, who last week suggested that postponing second shots to administer more first doses could trigger an expected “category 5” hurricane-like outbreak in cases prevent.
The problem of vaccinating the country is likely to be solved before Osterholm’s proposal can be studied effectively, Fauci said.
“I would love to have the study, but I do not think we can do it in a while,” he told Todd.
Fauci, who called the host a ‘survival-of-the-most-suitable’ vaccine distribution process, said supply would increase “significantly” in the coming weeks and months.
“Things are going to get better as we get from February to March to April because the number of vaccinations available will increase significantly,” he said.
But Fauci did not want to clearly answer whether public schools should start personal education immediately, despite the CDC director’s recent remarks that they can reopen safely.
Rather, he insisted on the adoption of President Biden’s “American Rescue Act,” which includes money for the reopening of the school.
“We want to open the schools K-to-8 within the next 100 days,” Fauci said. He noted that the transmission of COVID-19 among primary and secondary schools was probably lower than among high school students.
“What they need is for them to need help. That’s why we want the American Rescue Act to come through so that schools have the ability – with masks, with the ability to get better ventilation, all the things you want to do. ”