Washington – Dr Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said on Sunday that the coronavirus vaccines currently being spread across the United States should provide reasonable protection against new strains found in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil was detected. .
“I do think that the existing vaccines will provide reasonable protection against these new variants. And we may also be able to develop in time, perhaps in four or six months, a consensus strain that has many of the different variations we see to have boosters available for the fall, “Gottlieb said in an interview with” Face the Nation. ” “I therefore think there is a reasonable chance that we will be able to stay ahead of this virus as it mutates.”
Gottlieb says as a rule of thumb, it can be assumed that the vaccines will be about 20% less effective against the new strains from Brazil and South Africa. But he stressed that even if there is a reduction in its effectiveness, “you still get a very good protection” against mRNA vaccines, such as the shots of Moderna and Pfizer, which have been approved by the FDA.
The new variant, which is circulating worldwide, was identified in the last months of 2020 and early 2021 and has since been detected in the United States. The tribe of the United Kingdom, B.1.1.7, was found in 33 states, while the South African tribe, B.1.351, was found in two states. The variant of Brazil, P.1., Has meanwhile been detected in one condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
In the US, Southern Florida and Southern California, they have emerged as a hotspot for the British tribe, which according to health officials is more contagious. In southern Florida, the new variant accounts for between 5% and 10% of infections, and in southern California, about 5% of infections are from the British tribe. But for the rest of the country, Gottlieb said the variant is less than 1% of infections.
“I think it’s mostly too little, too late in the country,” he said. “We will probably advance with our vaccines and the seasonal effect of the hot weather.”
The new coronavirus strains have highlighted the need for vaccine distribution, and the Biden government has taken steps to get faster shots into the arms of Americans, including sending doses directly to retail pharmacies.
Gottlieb said the new government had made great strides in distributing vaccines, delivering as many as 2 million doses of vaccines on some days. He predicted by the end of March that there would be 250 million vaccines on the market if Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine received an emergency authorization from the FDA, with another 100 million vaccines delivered in April.
“If you assume a 60-40 split between first doses and second doses, you assume about 60% of the supply coming on the market goes to first doses. By the end of March, we had delivered 150 million vaccines and in April another 60 million, ‘he said. “Our demand will run low. I mean, I think we need to start thinking about the question side of this comparison soon. “
In addition to the promise of administering 100 million vaccine doses in his first hundred days in office, President Biden also promised that most schools would reopen within that time period. The CDC is expected to announce guidelines this week on the safe reopening of schools, and dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, suggested on Wednesday that vaccinating teachers is not a “prerequisite” for getting children back into the classroom.
Gottlieb said the implementation of mitigation measures, such as wearing masks, maintaining distance and taking precautions in the classroom, should be a condition for opening schools.
“Schools are not a transmission vector, and especially children under the age of 14 are less likely to both become infected and transmit the infection,” he said. “I think it would certainly be good to be able to prioritize teachers to get them vaccinated so that they do not run the risk of contracting the infection and spreading the infection. But I do not think that is necessarily a prerequisite. I think schools have shown that they can open safely if they take precautions in the classroom. ‘