Dr Scott Gottlieb warned that the vaccination of Americans against Covid is more critical than ever before, especially since the new South African variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs.
“The South African variant is currently very worrying because it looks like it could prevent some of our medical countermeasures, especially the antibody products,” the former FDA chief in the Trump administration said in an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith “said. “Tuesday night.” At the moment, it seems that the tension in South America and Brazil, the two parts of the world, is currently occurring in their summer, but is also experiencing a very dense epidemic, and that is worrying.
The South African variant is also known as 501.V2, and in mid-December officials reported that 501.V2 had already replaced other strains of the coronavirus as early as November. South Africa has suffered more than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 30,000 deaths, most on the African continent.
Gottlieb has experimental evidence out Bloom Lab, and explains 501.V2 does appear to partially escape immunity. This means that some of the antibodies that humans produce when infected with Covid, as well as the antibody products may not be as effective.
“The new variant has mutated some of the ear protein to which our antibodies bind to clear up the virus itself. So it’s worrying,” Gottlieb said. “Now, the vaccine could be a turning point against this variant that is really gaining a foothold here in the United States, but we need to speed up the rate of vaccination.”
Operation Warp Speed’s director of production and distribution of supply Ret. Lieutenant General Paul Ostrowski told host Shepard Smith on December 3 that anyone who wants a vaccine can get it by June. However, projections are currently falling short. More than 17 million doses of Covid have been distributed to states, but only 4.8 million Americans received their first shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gottlieb proposed working faster through prioritized categories of people, expanding the number of vaccination sites, and storing a smaller percentage of doses to vaccinate more Americans.
“It’s really a race against time trying to get more vaccine into people’s arms before these new variants become more prevalent in the United States,” Gottlieb said.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a contributor to CNBC and is a member of the boards of directors of Pfizer, the compiler of genetic testing Tempus and the biotechnology company Illumina. Pfizer has a manufacturing agreement with Gilead vir remdesivir. Gottlieb also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘En Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy Sail Panel.”