“We have to act now, and I’m worried that if we do not take the right steps now, we will have another inevitable boom – just as we currently see in Europe and just as aggressively scale up vaccination, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday.
And a high level of infection could also mean vaccination problems later, an expert told CNN on Monday.
“Not only does uncontrolled spread cause preventable diseases, hospitalization and death, but it increases the risk of an even more dangerous variant that could make the vaccine less effective,” said Dr Tom Frieden, the former CDC director. .
Travel and crowds usually lead to congestion
While vaccines are being rolled out, Frieden says Americans should continue to take precautions, such as wearing masks and restricting travel and leisure time with people who are not from their household.
“When people travel and mix, you can see a huge increase in infections a few weeks later,” he adds.
Vaccinations have saved thousands of lives
Frieden says he believes the US is likely to see another boom, but it will be ‘much less lethal’ due to the vaccines being administered.
“We estimate that vaccination has already saved at least 40,000 lives in the US,” Frieden said. “These are really good vaccines and the faster we get them out.”
The Data and Security Monitoring Board “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have contained outdated information from the trial, which could have provided an incomplete overview of the efficacy data,” the statement said.
“We call on the company to work with the DSMB to review the efficiency data and ensure that the most accurate, up-to-date efficiency data is released as soon as possible,” he said.
Earlier, AstraZeneca said it hopes to deliver 50 million doses within a month if authorized for emergency use.
“We plan to submit to the FDA in the first half of April, assuming that the FDA strongly supports our submission,” Ruud Dobber, president of AstraZeneca’s bio-pharmaceutical business unit, said in a statement to CNN said.
“After FDA approval, we will immediately release 30 million doses in the first phase, and then another 20 million in the same month,” the statement added.
Recommendations for fully vaccinated
CDC officials said Monday that Americans who have already been fully vaccinated should visit their free family and friends without restricting it.
“In the environment that the unvaccinated people are from a single household and that all the unvaccinated people are at low risk for severe Covid-19 disease, no preventative measures are necessary. Therefore, these visits can take place indoors without mask or physical distance. , “CDi epidemiologist Tami Skoff said.
For example, fully vaccinated grandparents can visit their non-vaccinated daughter and her non-vaccinated children indoors and without masks, assuming neither of them is at higher risk for serious illnesses, Skoff said.
The recommendations only apply to people who have been fully vaccinated, Skoff said. This means that it is at least two weeks since the second dose of a two-dose vaccine series or two weeks since the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that people who are fully vaccinated are less likely to have asymptomatic infection, and therefore less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others,” Skoff said. said.
But there are two major exceptions that require everyone to follow safety precautions: if one of the unvaccinated people is at high risk for severe Covid-19, or if there are more than two houses without vaccination that mix.
A third of hospital patients have long-term effects
Researchers are also trying to understand more about the long-term aftermath of infections – and how many people may be affected.
About a third of Covid-19 patients admitted to the hospital experience long-term effects that can affect multiple organ systems, according to a comprehensive review of scientific studies published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
The researchers reviewed scientific literature on post-acute Covid-19 – meaning complications caused by the virus caused more than four weeks after the onset of symptoms.
“Long covid” effects can have an impact on more than half a dozen organ systems, including the pulmonary, hematological, cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, renal, dermatological, gastrointestinal and endocrine systems, the studies show.
Some of the most common long-term symptoms: fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, tachycardia, anxiety, sleep disorders, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The researchers proposed a framework for caring for these patients through multidisciplinary long-term Covid clinics and praised the work of patient advocacy groups, including the COVID Advocacy Exchange, the Body Politic and Survivor Corps, for data collection about the symptoms of patients and the coordination with researchers to help collect. more information.
CNN’s Pete Muntean, Michael Nedelman, Ryan Prior, Christopher Rios, Ben Tinker and Maggie Fox contributed to this report.