There is no question about the effectiveness of vaccines, expert says, as FDA weighs possible booster shot
“What not everybody would agree to is the second thing, which I believe, that the point of vaccination is to also reduce the level of infection,” Wen said.
That is the issue now being debated by officials and health experts, just as the average of new daily cases has shot up over the past two months.
The reports are part of a batch of data that will be discussed by the FDA’s vaccine advisers as it considers a request by Pfizer to approve a third, booster dose for most people six months after they get their first two doses of vaccine.
There also is fear that a focus on boosters will distract from the mission of getting a greater proportion of the public to get their initial doses.
Only around 54% of the US population is fully vaccinated, which experts agree is the best form of protection against the virus.
Friday’s discussion will be public, he added, so people can see the data that goes into the decision.
Local health departments are planning on being ready to roll out booster doses next week if given the green light from the FDA, but many still have questions, Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told CNN on Wednesday.
“What is the interval for boosters? Is it any shorter than eight months at this point? What is the age cut-off? Will there be priority groupings?” Freeman said. “We don’t want to be unprepared. We don’t want to appear uncoordinated on boosters.”
Numb to tragedy
“We are somewhat complacent with a very excessive amount of death and disease,” he said during an appearance at the SALT hedge fund conference in Manhattan.
It’s a number that can be hard to process, Wen said.
“Imagine if 1 in 500 Americans had died in a war due to a foreign adversary in the last year and a half. How would we be processing that information now? What would we be doing differently?” she asked. “Wouldn’t we be doing everything we can to end the war, end the suffering and deaths?
“For us to not do everything we can with vaccines and masks in the meantime, it’s really unconscionable.”
That is more than 400,000 more than there were all of last year — before Covid-19 vaccines were available to young people over the age of 12.
In the US, cases are likely to rise now that schools have reopened in the Northeast, Gottlieb said.
“That’s going to build,” Gottlieb said, pointing to school outbreaks in other regions hit by the Delta variant. “The schools will become sources of spread in the Northeast as well.”
However, Gottlieb, who sits on the board of Pfizer, doesn’t expect the Northeast to get hit nearly as hard as the South, mostly because of prior infections and high vaccination rates.
Most Americans support Covid-19 restrictions
Other strategies officials have promoted to increase virus protection are vaccine mandates and mask requirements.
Many states and workplaces had already introduced similar measures.
Los Angeles is set to expand vaccination requirements with the implementation of a new health order that will mandate vaccine verification for indoor bars, wineries, and nightclubs, and recommend the same for indoor restaurants, County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced Wednesday.
About 61% of adults say proof of vaccination should be required to travel on an airplane, 57% say it should be required to attend public colleges or universities and 56% say it should be required to go to sporting events.
When it comes to restaurants, Americans are split, with 50% saying proof should be required for people to eat inside.
For stores and businesses, 54% oppose a vaccination requirement.
And most Americans believe that the public health benefits of restrictions due to Covid-19 are worth the economic and lifestyle costs, the report said.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Virginia Langmaid, Jacqueline Howard, Matt Egan and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report.
