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Richard Besser, who was acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, said the United States had better continue to focus on getting the two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to patients despite the slow deployment.
On CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith,” Besser endorsed comments made earlier Monday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. During a White House briefing on Covid-19, Fauci said staying on track for two doses gives us the clearest path to protect people from the virus and its growing number of variants.
“I would go with Dr. Fauci on this one,” Besser said. “I’m concerned that if we were to go on a single dose regimen, we might be offering people sub-optimal levels of protection.”
Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration on the basis of the protection they provide after two doses, given at different times. Due to the slower-than-expected rollout of the vaccine, as well as variants of Covid-19 appearing across the country, some scientists have recommended distributing single vaccines to more people rather than doubling the doses to fewer patients.
Besser, who is now chairman and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also said it was too early for states to start opening bars and restaurants to larger groups of people. He said if the evidence shows that we can open schools safely, social gatherings inside could lead to larger epidemics “if we let our guard down.”
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