NIH director remains hopeful about COVID outbreak but says ‘we are paying a terrible price’

Francis Collins, the director of the National Institute of Health (NIH), remained optimistic that the United States could effectively tackle the latest wave of COVID-19 cases, although he acknowledged that “we are paying a terrible price “.

Appearing on “This Week” on ABC, Collins told the host George StephanopoulosGeorge Robert Stephanopoulos NIH director remains hopeful about COVID outbreak but says “we are paying a terrible price” “Jeopardy!” producer Mike Richards in talks to permanently host Alex Trebek’s place: Biden report calls on Cuomo to step down after harassment probe MORE that the United States is currently “failing” in terms of building community-wide immunity. However, he stressed that the United States has the tools to fight the virus.

Stephanopoulos noted that the former President TrumpDonald Trump’s ally Trump who backed calls to quash the election is making an offer for Lieutenant Georgia. Gov. Trump’s Campaign, RNC Reimburses Donors An Additional $ 0.8 Million In 2021: NYT NIH Director Remains Hopeful About COVID Outbreak But Says “We’re Paying a Terrible Price” MORETom Bossert’s homeland security adviser had said he believed the country had passed the mitigation stage and the only option left was to deal with the consequences. Collins hit back at this characterization, saying it was not “quite” too late and there was still time to get more people vaccinated.

“But, certainly, we’re going to have to deal with hospitalizations, all kinds of stress on the healthcare system, and unnecessary death from what’s already there. But we have to do everything we can to stop it.” , did he declare. “And that includes wearing masks in places where we can reduce the spread of this highly contagious virus.”

.@ GStéphanopoulos request @NIH Director if the Americans fail each other in the middle of the delta variant wave.

“We have vaccines that we know are very effective and safe and yet half of the country is still not fully immunized.” https://t.co/iuahTpT0HO pic.twitter.com/N4C0YyK500

– This week (@ThisWeekABC) August 8, 2021

Stephanopoulos asked if it was now time for more vaccine mandates.

“Yes, I think we should use all public health tools possible when people are dying,” Collins said, stressing that he was approaching the subject as a doctor and scientist and not as a “politician”.

“We are on a very steep slope on this curve and we have to think of all the possible interventions,” he said.

During the interview, Collins also said medical experts had no “concerns” about newer variants like delta and Lambda, as the vaccine is still effective against them. Collins said experts were worried, however, about a possible variant so different from the original SARS-CoV-2 that the vaccines would be ineffective against it.