Leading health experts have rejected suggestions that the US could “clear” the second shot of coronavirus vaccines to address the alleged spread issues.
President Trump and Operation Warp Speed have consistently said they can vaccinate 20 million people by the end of December: in fact, the program received only 3 million people the first recording of a two-dose program.
As things increase nationwide, some have suggested that the US could follow the UK’s plan and evacuate shots – to drop second shots so more people can get their first shot.
Anthony Fauci and dr. Moncef Slaoui (AP Photos)
Dr Anthony Fauci immediately rejected the idea, saying it was ‘the right solution to the wrong question’. He further stressed that there is no data on what happens if the second shot is not fired.
“The issue of giving it to people and not having a guarantee that you will get a second chance is contrary to science,” Fauci told Chuck Todd, ‘host of the press’. “The idea to expand it so you can give more people, that’s when you do not have enough vaccine and your people are queuing up to get the vaccine.”
Fauci later said that a partial exclusion such as that done in California “is not out of the question.”
“We hope we do not have to do this nationwide because we feel that if you follow the social health measures, you can turn things around without a uniform exclusion,” Fauci said.
The adviser of Operation Warp Speed, dr. Moncef Slaoui, affirms Fauci’s stance and insists that it is “not reasonable” to change the vaccination programs.
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“We have no data after one dose – if we leave it one month, two months, three months – with maybe incomplete immunity, maybe even the wrong immune response,” Fauci told Margaret Brennan, ‘host of Face the Nation’. .
“Changing the decisions made, the choices made, to give two doses of the vaccine – the second dose gives you the immune response ten times higher – without the data I think would not be responsible.”
Both experts have stuck to their insistence that the distribution of vaccines be on schedule: it is a problem to get people to take.
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Slaoui insisted that all targets for distribution had been met, and that all states had received a vaccine.
When pressed on what Operation Warp Speed can do to promote the actual uptake of vaccines, Slaoui said it was a problem that the states decided to use the vaccines.
“I do not think we are able to identify exactly which long-term care facility or which CVS store should get which vaccine or how much vaccine,” Slaoui explained. “It has to be done by people with a fine knowledge of their population, their movements.”
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Both Fauci and Slaoui cited that 1.5 million doses have been administered in the past 72 hours, claiming that such an increase in vaccinations proves that the program is reaching its targets.