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Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, on Sunday urged the United States to vaccinate as many people over 65 as possible before a possible outbreak of COVID-19 caused by the news strain first detected in England. .
The big picture: About 1.3 million doses per day are administered on average, according to a New York Times analysis – in line with President Biden’s goal of giving Americans 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in 100 days. But the deployment in the United States has been difficult.
- The Biden administration is still trying to find more than 20 million doses of the vaccine distributed to states, Politico reports. States rely on county health departments and local authorities to arrange vaccinations because the CDC’s vaccine administration website is reportedly struggling and not widely used.
What he says: “Let me say right away, we have to call an audible one, “Osterholm said, referring to the vaccine distribution plan in the US.” The point is that the outbreak that’s likely to happen with this new variant from England, will occur in the next 6 to 14 weeks. “
- “And if we see that happening, what my 45 years in the trenches tell us we will, we’re going to see something like we haven’t seen in this country yet. England, for example, is hospitalizing twice as many people as ever. had hospitalized at our largest number. “
- “So we still want to get two doses in everyone, but I think right now, before this surge, we need it to get as much of one dose in as many people over 65 as possible. to reduce serious illnesses and deaths that occur. will be happening over the next few weeks. “
To note: While Osterholm, according to the CDC, believes the British strain may ultimately become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the United States, he added that the variant “has not shown its ability to evade vaccine protection.” although it has been found to be more transmissible.
The bottom line: “I mean, imagine where we are at, Chuck, now. You and I are sitting on this beach where it’s 70 degrees, a perfectly blue sky, a light breeze. But I see this hurricane five, category five or more, 450 miles offshore, ”Osterholm said.
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