Dr Scott Gottlieb on Thursday warned coronavirus vaccine recipients to let their guards down immediately, and CNBC said they should adhere to social health measures such as wearing masks.
The former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner said the advice was especially important for elderly Americans who are at higher risk for death or serious illness due to Covid-19.
“I think for an older individual who is vulnerable to this virus, definitely .. wait a while after the second shot until you probably have the full protective immunity,” Gottlieb said on ‘Squawk Box’. “I don’t think people should feel completely safe after the first shot.”
Both Covid vaccines approved by the FDA for emergency use require two doses. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed one of the vaccines, while Moderna manufactured the other. Gottlieb sits on the board of Pfizer.
About 10.3 million Americans received their initial Covid shot as of Wednesday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. About 29.4 million doses were distributed.
The shaky vaccination comes as the country continues to see high levels of coronavirus infection and more deaths due to Covid-19. The country’s seven-day average of new daily cases is 245,306, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In the past week, an average of 3,360 Americans a day died from Covid, the second highest score recorded.
Vaccine recipients still have to take precautions for public health because the U.S. outbreak remains so significant and ‘infection is everywhere,’ Gottlieb said. “If you’re a vulnerable individual, even if you’ve had the second shot and you think you have full protective immunity to the vaccine, it’s still very wise to keep wearing a mask and take precautions. . “
“It does not mean that you have to sleep and that you do not have to see family,” added Gottlieb, who led the FDA in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. ‘Maybe you can lean forward in this regard, but wear a mask. Be more careful in those interactions, because in a general environment you are still running a danger. ‘
As more Americans are vaccinated, Gottlieb said the total infection rates in the U.S. should decrease and the intensity of the epidemic should be significantly reduced. At that point, he would make more sense to ‘relax’ certain precautions, he said.
“It will hopefully be summer, spring, if these new variants do not gain a foothold here in the United States and change our trajectory,” he said, referring to the coronavirus strains initially found in the United Kingdom and South Africa. . apparently more transferable.
Researchers in Ohio said Wednesday they have discovered two new variants that are likely to have originated in the US
Last week, Gottlieb warned Americans that it is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic life in 2021. He told CNBC, for example, that public places may still require people to take their temperature before entering.
“I just think things are going to be different, just like it is different if you go through an airport now after 9/11,” he said last week. “I do not think masks are going to be mandatory next fall and winter if we can increase the vaccination rate and if these new variants disappear or do not occur. But I think a lot of people will want to wear masks, and that’s OK.”
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a contributor to CNBC and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, drafting genetic tests Tempus and biotechnology company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of the ‘Healthy Sail Panel’ of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.