Gottlieb says vaccine will likely be widely available by mid-2021

Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said the COVID-19 vaccine would likely be widely available to the general public by mid-2021, but warned of a “very long time difficult “in the coming months.

Gottlieb, appearing on “Face the Nation,” said elderly residents of nursing homes will likely be the first group to get vaccinated once a vaccine is approved. After that, the elderly living at home could be the next group to be vaccinated, with younger age groups and less-at-risk populations being eligible to receive it by “probably the second quarter of 2021, maybe the third.” quarter, if things are going well ”.

“We will be able to vaccinate the public or a good part of the public before the fall of 2021,” said Gottlieb. “I think 2021 will be a much different year with COVID, with the combination of the vaccine and other therapeutics, the therapeutic antibodies that will be more plentiful in 2021. What we really need to get through is both or next three. months. ”

Gottlieb also said that the United States probably does not need 70% of the population to receive the vaccine to achieve herd immunity, estimating that up to 30% of the American population could have contracted COVID- 19 by the end of winter, and therefore have a certain level of immunity.

“What you need to do is get a certain percentage of people who have not yet been vaccinated against the infection vaccinated and ideally some of the people who have had the infection basically double their immunity,” he said. he declares.

The former FDA commissioner said “we don’t yet know” whether the COVID-19 vaccine will need to be administered annually, like the flu shot, but predicted it would be as a precaution.

“I’m guessing it will be an annual vaccination for a while until we know more,” Gottlieb said.

As Dr Anthony Fauci, Gottlieb urged caution in the difficult winter months ahead. No one wants to be that person who will contract COVID-19 in the next few months as a vaccine is imminent, he said.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel right now,” Gottlieb said. “We just have to go through a very difficult time right now.”