Hopefully there will be an adequate supply of vaccines in 2021

Former FDA chief and Pfizer board member Dr Scott Gottlieb told CNBC he hopes there will be an adequate supply of vaccines in 2021, following report of the Wall Street Journal that Pfizer had to reduce its initial estimates of the amount of vaccine. doses this year due to supply chain issues.

“The supply grows very quickly as you move and the longer you push that time until 2021 by a week or two, the less supply you have in 2020,” Gottlieb said. “Hopefully we will have an adequate supply in 2021 and that will grow very quickly, but hopefully these will hit the market this year.”

An American has died about every 30 seconds from Covid on Wednesday, according to CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data. The virus has killed more than 275,000 Americans and the United States has reported more than 2,800 deaths, the most in a single day since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins. Hospitalizations have doubled in the past month. More than 100,000 people were in hospitals sick with Covid on Wednesday, a record high according to the COVID Tracking Project.

Dr Bruce Becker, assistant professor of behavioral medicine and social sciences at Brown University’s School of Public Health, has warned of rising death tolls in the coming months.

“I expect the death rate to continue at this level or increase, maybe even double next month,” Becker said. “Every winter, we see significant death rates from influenza, other respiratory viruses and bacterial pneumonia, especially in the population most susceptible to severe Covid-19 infection. Expect this population to suffer from severe Covid-19 disease and death within the next three to four. month.”

Gottlieb told host Shepard Smith he thinks “the UK is a good regulator.” The vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech will be rolled out in the UK next week after UK regulators cleared it for emergency use on Wednesday.

“I worked closely with them. A lot of the people who are there now are from the EU regulator and returned to the UK after Brexit. So I think they did a good job. by reviewing this data, ”Gottlieb said.

The CNBC contributor explained that the FDA process is different from the UK system, especially due to the FDA’s commitment to having a public advisory committee and public release of information. This process, in turn, will add a few more weeks to the vaccine approval process.

“We believe there are public health dividends in having this information publicly released, in having this public advisory committee meeting, in having the process validated by external FDA advisors, and in providing objective advice. in an open setting, ”Gottlieb said in a statement. Thursday night interview on “The News with Shepard Smith”. “I think this will go a long way in building public confidence, so it might be worth taking the time to do it.”

So far, the virus has killed more than 100,000 people in nursing homes. Across the country, people who work and live in long-term care facilities account for less than 6% of all Covid cases, but they account for nearly 40% of virus-related deaths, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

On Tuesday, a panel of medical experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted to prioritize older people in nursing homes and medical staff when a vaccine is approved. Gottlieb said the vaccines will be distributed to special sites and rationed for some time to these populations.

“There is going to be an inflection point where I think there will be enough supply in the market that we will see this rationing system start to erode and it will be more widely available to larger groups of people. “said Gottlieb. “I guess it’s going to be in the March period.”

The vaccines to be released by Pfizer and Moderna appear to be over 90% effective in preventing the coronavirus, but only after patients receive two doses at least 20 days apart. Smith expressed concern about Americans taking two doses of the vaccine. Gottlieb said that while there is some protection after the first dose, both doses should be taken for 95% effectiveness. Becker echoed Gottlieb’s sentiments and stressed the importance of getting both doses to be fully protected.

“Do not skip on the second dose because the first dose gave you a headache or a low fever or sore muscles,” Becker said. “These symptoms are not Covid! They happen with most tetanus flu shots, it’s just how your body makes antibodies to protect you.”