Adm. Brett Giroir, the coronavirus tsor in the White House, expressed confidence that newly developed coronavirus vaccines would work against all strains, including one discovered in the UK and highly infected.
Giroir told Fox News Sunday that while it is possible that the strain has already reached the US, it does not appear to be resistant to vaccines now being distributed.
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“We have no evidence to suggest, nor do we believe, that … the vaccine would be ineffective. In other words, we believe that the vaccine will be effective against this variant,” he said.
He stressed that the existing travel restrictions on the UK and other European countries have been in place since March and that it should reduce the spread of the variant.
As for the distribution of vaccines, Giroir said it would be up to the state to determine who should get the shots after health workers and residents of the nursing home were induced. The White House recommends that people over 75 and other workers be in the front line next time.
Adm. Brett Giroir, director of the U.S. Coronavirus Diagnostic Test, testified at a House subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Trial on July 31, 2020 in Washington, DC (Photo by Kevin Dietsch-Pool / Getty Images)
Giroir said there are still studies being done on the safety of the vaccine for children, but he encouraged parents to send their children back to school, even if they have not been vaccinated.
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“I think it’s very important for listeners to understand that it’s safe now to get kids back to school,” he said. “There is data on data on data that children can safely return to school in person.”
Giroir quoted a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report as saying that schools are not one of the places where children are likely to be infected.
“It is therefore safe and very important to get children back into school, even before they are vaccinated,” he added.
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Teachers are likely to be eligible to receive the vaccine in front of the general public, Giroir said, due to the ‘critical’ nature of their work, although he believes ‘young, healthy teachers should no longer be at risk as young people,’ healthy individuals in any other profession. ‘
Giroir said the U.S. will reach herd immunity and end the pandemic when 70% to 80% of the population is vaccinated or previously infected. Although he did not predict when that would happen, he said the government expects an American who wants a vaccine to be vaccinated by June. ‘