King County Health Officer, dr. Jeff Duchin showed an optimistic tone on Friday, predicting that the region could have its worst pandemic within months, if not weeks.
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Dr. Duchin cited a number of reasons for his positive outlook, including declining cases and hospitalizations, an increase in the distribution of vaccines and an additional single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine that could be approved by the FDA as early as next week. word. .
“We have many reasons to be encouraged as a community,” he said. “Satisfaction would be a big mistake, but we are in a much better place today than we were a month ago, and we are on the road to a possible return to normal within a few months.”
“With a few more weeks of serious caution and vigilance, we can put the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic behind us,” he added. “We’re close to putting it in the rearview mirror.”
Duchin also mentions the fact that last week was the first time in the course of the entire pandemic that King County did not see a single new COVID-19 case in a long-term facility.
In the days ahead, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be an integral part of speeding up the country and the country’s timeline to end the pandemic. The vaccine solved a major obstacle on Friday after an FDA panel unanimously recommended it for emergency use.
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The vaccine also holds significant benefits compared to those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.
“It’s a very good vaccine,” said Dr. Duchin said. “It has very attractive properties: it is a single dose, very easy to store, it is very effective and may have fewer side effects.”
Nevertheless, he also stressed that people should take the vaccine available, and that all three are ‘very effective’ in preventing severe COVID-19 symptoms.
“The right advice is if you have a vaccine available, take it,” he advised. “We can say with great confidence that all of these vaccines are protected to a very high degree against serious illness, hospitalization and death.”