Mass vaccination and nature maintenance from already infected people are likely to prevent the fourth wave of Covid-19 in the United States, said former Food and Drug Administration member Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Sunday. It was.
“About 55% of the population talks about some form of defensive immunity,” Gottlieb told CBS’s Face the Nation. “I don’t think we’ll see a fourth surge here because we have enough backstops.”
Approximately 81 million people have been vaccinated at least once, and the number is increasing significantly every day. In addition, about 29 million people recovered from the virus positive, Over tens of millions I have Covid-19 without a positive test and have some innate immunity.
Still, the United States continues to see cases and deaths of Covid-19, Gottlieb warned. The first dangerous variant identified in the UK spreads..
“I think what you can see is a period of stagnation before we continue to decline-mostly because (the British variant) is more prevalent, mainly because we are too Because it is retreating early, regarding removing the mask and releasing the mitigation measures. “
Gottlieb also warned that the emergence of viral variants could change the country’s trajectory.
“The only thing you can be a real game changer here is if you have a variant that penetrates your previous immunity, which means it will re-infect people who are already infected or vaccinated. “He said.
Gottlieb’s comment comes from the fact that the number of Covid-19 cases in the United States has peaked at about 50,000 new cases per day in the last seven days. Some experts have warned about another surge as the United States is vaccinated and competing to stay ahead of the variants.
Dr. Peter Hotez, director of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN on Saturday. “This will be our most difficult time so far in knowing who will win.”
About a quarter of all Americans receive at least one Covid-19 vaccine-and About 13% are fully vaccinated -Experts have repeatedly emphasized that doubling safety measures can help curb another surge.
“If you can wait another month or six weeks, that will make a big difference,” Hotez added.
However, air travel Set a record for the pandemic era The spring break crowd is swelling.To Miami Beach, authorities declared state of emergency on Saturday In response to the crowd, the mayor says, “It was more than we could handle.”
And at least 12 governors and multiple local leaders This month’s restrictions have been relaxed, I have some Abolished the obligation of mask completely.
Increased cases and hospitalizations in Michigan
Michigan announced by the governor A series of relaxed restrictions earlier this month, Authorities now say The state could potentially be at the beginning of another surge.
“Progress in Covid-19 is vulnerable,” said Dr. Johnny Cardun, Chief Healthcare Officer in Michigan. Press conference Friday. “We are making great strides in our vaccination efforts and many people are doing the right thing by not wearing masks and gathering in large groups, but what we are seeing now is , It’s about data that shows that we’re heading in the wrong direction. “”
According to Khaldun, the case rate has increased over the past month, up 77% since mid-February.
Since mid-February, the state’s Covid-19 test positive rate has also risen by 177%, according to Cardun. Hospitalization rates have also risen over the past two weeks, Khaldun added.
Michigan also reported the second highest number of cases in the country for the B.1.1.7 variant, after Florida. For CDC data.
Dr. Rob Davidson, a doctor in the state emergency room, told CNN on Saturday. “In the past, we know that the number of cases has increased, then hospitalized, and then died.”
Davidson told CNN that he was even more concerned about the variants being in circulation and hoped that the state would make sufficient progress to protect its inhabitants.
“I haven’t seen it yet,” said Davidson. “We don’t just want to wait and find. We rather want people to mask, keep distance, and reduce their numbers.”
Political division of vaccination
According to, more than 44 million Americans are fully vaccinated To CDC data..
The increasing numbers are encouraging, but experts say there is still a long way to go for the country to reach the levels needed to control the spread of the virus-and must. Dealing with vaccine repellent the same as Political division That gets in the way.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson advised everyone on Friday to vaccinate and believe that is the right thing to do, but knows that there are “a certain amount of people” who are not vaccinated. Stated. You have the right to do it. “
“We had to do a better job to ensure that everyone understood the importance of vaccines and maintained the respect of those who did not want to be vaccinated. I can, but I will do as much as I can. “
According to a recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS, 92% of Democrats have or will be vaccinated, but among Republicans it has dropped to 50%.
Moncef Slaoui, former director of Operation Warp Speed, said he was very concerned about the politically-backed vaccine evasion.
In an interview broadcast on Face the Nation on Sunday, Slawi said, “For political motivation, people actually decide to harm themselves and those around them by refusing to vaccinate. I am very concerned about doing so. “
Slawi also defended last year’s Operation Warp Speed ​​efforts and opposed President Joe Biden’s criticism of the Trump administration’s vaccine program.
“I think we had a plan. In fact, 90% of what’s happening now is the plan we had,” Slawi said.
“We specifically contracted 100 million doses of vaccine, but we also included a contract option to get more vaccines if we found it to be effective. When we found it to be more effective. , I was planning to order more vaccines, “he said. “What’s happening is, frankly, what was the plan, and what was it in effect?”
CNN’s Pete Muntean, Carma Hassan, Mirna Alsharif, and Alec Snyder contributed to this report.
