His remarks come amid growing concerns that the spread of Covid’s vaccine has been slower than expected, and the Trump administration has missed its initial goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020. So far, just over 4 million Americans have received their first of two. According to the CDC, Covid shots and another 13 million doses were delivered to states.
Federal officials said the U.S. needs to vaccinate about 80 percent of the population to establish herd immunity to the coronavirus, and that they are looking for ways to speed up the immunization efforts as things continue to grow. The U.S. has so far reported more than 20.4 million cases and 350,000 deaths.
Earlier Sunday, top federal infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned that the government should not deviate from the doses and schedules used in clinical trials on the vaccines, adding that proliferation efforts should be more effective.
“We know what science tells us,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” without directly addressing Slaoui’s proposal. “So my feeling … is that we have to do it the way the clinical trials have instructed us to do it. But let’s become more effective in getting it into people’s arms.”
Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams said they are working with governors to promote vaccinations.
‘We need to understand that this virus also took place in the midst of a boom. “A large portion of the local vaccination capacity has been used for testing and responding to congestion,” Adams said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ But the good news is that we are seeing it rise quickly, thanks to our state partners. ‘
The US, like most countries, withheld half of its supplies of Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines to ensure that everyone who received their first dose received the second dose. Meanwhile, the UK last week shifted its guidelines to get as many people as possible their first dose while delaying the second dose, raising concerns among scientists who say there is no evidence the vaccine is effective without the full regimen to complete.
Slaoui expressed the idea of following a similar approach in the US, saying it would not be responsible to give initial doses without ensuring people get their second dose without data to back it up.