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Developments of the coronavirus in Europe are probably no longer early indications of what will happen weeks later in the United States, in part due to America’s progress in vaccinating its population, Dr Scott said on Monday. Gottlieb at CNBC.
The former Food and Drug Administration commissioner’s comments on “Squawk Box” come a day after White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said the situation in Europe shows why US states should not completely abandon pandemic precautions at this time.
Italy is imposing tougher restrictions on businesses in parts of the country after an increase in new infections, including a nationwide lockdown for the Easter weekend. Health officials in Germany have also warned of an increase in Covid cases.
“Earlier I said we were sort of four to maybe six weeks behind Europe, and we were roughly so,” Gottlieb said, referring to earlier phases of the crisis. global health. “Everything that happened in Europe has finally happened here. Now I think things have changed. We are ahead of Europe.”
“I don’t think the conditions in Europe and the situation in Europe are necessarily more predictive of what’s going to happen here because we have a lot more immunity in our population from both a previous infection – which they also have. – but also now from vaccination, ”added Gottlieb, member of the board of directors of Pfizer, which manufactures a Covid vaccine.
About 9.5% of the vaccine-eligible population in EU and European Economic Area member states have received at least one injection of Covid, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. About 7.5% of Italians aged 18 and over and 8.5% of Germans aged 18 and over have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, according to ECDC data.
In contrast, 27% of the adult US population has received at least one injection of Covid, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna both require two doses for complete immune protection. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which requires only one injection, was recently cleared for use by the European Union. U.S. regulators granted emergency use authorization for J & J’s vaccine late last month after clearing Pfizer and Moderna in December.
“I think we should be concerned that things may turn in a direction that we don’t foresee,” admitted Gottlieb, who previously urged states to continue to require people to wear face masks to prevent the transmission of coronaviruses. In fact, he said ending mask warrants should be the last public health measure to be lifted.
However, the former FDA chief in the Trump administration said emerging strains of Covid, such as the B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the UK, have been shown to be less of a problem in the United States. United than in other parts of the world.
“Right now, you see that B.1.1.7 is becoming quite prevalent in the United States. It’s over 50% of the cases in Texas, Florida, and Southern California, and you don’t see the big pick-up in cases we might have expected once this variant is claimed in the United States, “Gottlieb said, attributing it to the level of previous infection in the country as well as vaccination rates.
Last week, he estimated on CNBC that about 50% of Americans have “some form of immunity” to the coronavirus.
“The fact that we haven’t seen the surge in coronaviruses gain … even as B.1.1.7 becomes the prevalent strain in the United States, I think bodes well,” Gottlieb said on Monday.
New York, where researchers have discovered a new strain called B.1.526, is an area of concern for Gottlieb. He said there were indications that certain mutations of the virus in this strain “could make it more resistant to our vaccines and increase the likelihood that people will be re-infected.”
“We really don’t fully understand this mutation, but it is a cause for concern, so we have to watch this very closely,” he said, adding that the next few weeks should give more answers to officials.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a contributor to CNBC and is a board member of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health tech company Aetion, and biotech company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify which groups are receiving vaccinations.
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