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- Dr Anthony Fauci said “scientific data” suggested prioritizing two doses of the vaccine rather than giving single shots to more Americans.
- Health experts are discussing the best strategy to get the most people vaccinated.
- Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses for maximum effectiveness.
- Visit Insider’s Business section for more stories.
Dr Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden and longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that “science” supported prioritizing the administration of the two doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines currently available instead of focusing the current supply on getting as many people as possible the first time.
“What we have right now, and what we need to go with, is the scientific data that we have amassed,” Fauci, America’s top infectious disease specialist, told Chuck Todd in an interview on Sunday. morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “And it’s really solid.”
There is currently a discussion among medical experts as to the most effective way to use the current vaccine supply to best increase immunity in the United States to most effectively enable American companies and institutions, such as the schools, resume their activities safely and prevent further spread of the disease. the virus.
Read more: Retailers Take Extraordinary Steps To Convince Employees To Get Vaccinated, Experts Look At They Go To Work
As NBC News reported, Dr Michael Osterholm, a senior expert on infectious diseases and the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said last week that he supported an effort to prioritize the administering the first dose to more Americans to prevent the spread of more contagious strains of the virus more quickly.
“We still want to get two doses in everyone, but I think for now, before this surge, we need to give as many single doses as possible to as many people over 65 as possible, in order to reduce disease. serious and fatalities that will occur over the coming weeks, ”Osterholm said during“ Meet the Press ”last week.
Also last week, Andy Slavitt, a senior advisor to the Biden COVID response team, called on medical providers to stop the practice of conserving vaccine supplies to ensure their patients receive the second vaccine. in time, claiming this led providers to cancel appointments for patients waiting to receive the first dose.
Two vaccines, created by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna and the National Institutes of Health, late last year were cleared for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration, but deployment in the United States has been plagued by headaches due to limited supply. Both vaccines require two doses to achieve maximum effectiveness.
“If you look at the escalation in dose availability purely on capacity and manufacturing capacity, it’s going to intensify and continue to intensify as we move from February through March to April and beyond,” Fauci said on Sunday. “Even if there is a clear cut gap between demand and supply, it will improve.”
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