The development of the coronavirus in Europe is probably no longer an early indication of what will happen in the USA weeks later, partly due to the progress of America that vaccinated the population, said dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
The former commissioner of the food and drug administration on ‘Squawk Box’ comes a day after dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said the situation in Europe showed why US states should not stop the pandemic measures altogether now.
Italy is imposing stricter restrictions on businesses in certain parts of the country following an increase in new infections, including an upcoming nationwide exclusion for Easter weekend. Health officials in Germany have also warned of an increase in Covid cases.
“I used to say that we were kind of four to maybe six weeks behind Europe, and that was just us,” Gottlieb said, referring to previous phases of the global health crisis. “Everything that happened in Europe finally happened here. Now I think the tables have turned. We are ahead of Europe.”
“I do not think the conditions in Europe and the situation in Europe are necessarily more predictive of what is going to happen here, because we have much more immunity in our population, both against previous infection – which they also have – but also now against vaccination. , “added Gottlieb, a board member of Pfizer, which makes a Covid vaccine.
About 9.5% of the population in EU member states and the European Economic Area have had at least one shot of Covid, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. About 7.5% of the Italian population and 8.5% of Germans had at least one dose of Covid vaccine per ECDC data.
In contrast, 21% of the U.S. population received at least one shot of Covid, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna both require two doses for complete immune protection. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only one shot, was recently cleared for use by the European Union. U.S. regulators gave permission for emergency use of J & J’s vaccine late last month after clearing Pfizer and Moderna in December.
“I think we should be concerned that things could turn in a direction we do not predict,” admits Gottlieb, who has previously called on countries to continue to allow people to wear face masks to prevent coronavirus transmission. . In fact, he said the termination of mask mandates should be the last measure for public health.
However, the former FDA chief in the Trump administration said emerging Covid strains, such as the B117 variant first discovered in the UK, were less problematic in the US than in other parts of the world.
“Right now you can see that B117 is fairly common in the United States. It’s more than 50% of the cases in Texas and Florida and Southern California. Gottlieb said it was due to the level of previous contamination in the country. , together with the vaccination figures.
Last week, he estimated on CNBC that about 50% of Americans have “some sort of immunity” to the coronavirus.
“The fact that we have not yet seen the rise of the coronavirus, even though B117 is becoming the prevailing strain in the United States, I think, is good,” Gottlieb said Monday.
New York, where researchers discovered a new strain called B.1.526, is a worrying area for Gottlieb. He said there were indications that certain mutations for the virus in that strain “could make it resistant to our vaccines and make it more likely that people would become infected again.”
“We really do not understand the mutation very well, but it is cause for concern, so we need to keep a close eye on it,” he said, adding over the next few weeks to give officials more answers.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a contributor to CNBC and is a member of the boards of directors of Pfizer, the compilation of genetic tests Tempus, the healthcare company Aetion and the biotechnology company. Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘and Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy Sail Panel.”