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Dr Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday that he believes vaccinating children against Covid is a crucial step in changing the way many Americans view the coronavirus in the future.
“I think the reason a lot of people overestimate the risk of coronavirus, or still worry about it even if they are vaccinated… is because children are still vulnerable,” said the former Food and Beverage commissioner. Drug Administration on “Screaming Box.”
“Once adults are able to immunize their children, the anxiety of getting an infectious infection – knowing that you are probably not going to get very sick, your chances of getting very sick are very low if you are vaccinated, but you can bring it into the house – I think it will start to resolve itself, ”he added.
Gottlieb, who now sits on the board of directors of vaccine maker Covid Pfizer, acknowledged that the process will be a “slow evolution,” especially after the highly transmissible delta variant caused an increase in new Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent months.
“We’ve just spent a year, a year and a half, trying to prevent every infection. We’re going to evolve into a place where this is an endemic virus where it becomes a way of life, or a reality, if you will. It will be an evolution. It will not happen overnight, “said Gottlieb, stressing that simply vaccinating American adults is not enough for the psychological transition to fully occur.
“This will be when we can immunize the children, when the prevalence drops, when hospitalizations and deaths start to drop, and they will. They will be at the back of this delta wave,” he said.
Pfizer’s vaccine could be available for children aged 5 to 11 by Halloween, after the company said last week it had generated a “robust” immune response in trials involving this cohort of children and planned to submit its data to regulators. Pfizer’s vaccine is currently available for children aged 12 to 15 under emergency use authorization, while it is fully approved for those 16 and older.
Moderna, which has received emergency clearance for its Covid vaccine in people aged 18 and over, is also conducting trials in younger people.
New cases of Covid are starting to decline again in the United States, with the seven-day average of new daily infections standing at 119,598, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. This is a decrease of 19% from a week ago. However, the seven-day average of new daily deaths remains at around 1,987, according to CNBC’s analysis. Deaths tend to delay infections for a few weeks.
“We’re still really in the throes of this,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA from 2017 to 2019 in the Trump administration.
While constantly touting the crucial role vaccines play in protecting against Covid, the director of Pfizer has also placed emphasis on drug treatments for coronaviruses, especially if it becomes endemic like the seasonal flu.
Existing treatment options include antibody treatments such as Regeneron and Eli Lilly, as well as remdesivir, an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences, which is given intravenously. Pfizer and Merck are currently investigating their own oral antiviral treatments for Covid.
“Roche has a drug that is also in late development, a little bit further behind, but that looks very promising, and then there’s a whole slew of drugs that are in earlier development that have been designed to specifically target this SARS-CoV. -2 “, the scientific name of the new coronavirus. said Gottlieb. “I believe we’re going to have an antiviral.” He added: It’s not a difficult virus to drug in terms of how it replicates. “
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion Inc., and biotech company Illumina. He is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘ and Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy sail panel.”
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