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US COVID-19 cases have been falling for months, although they have stabilized somewhat in recent weeks.
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Former FDA chief Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS that, with millions of vaccinees, another increase is unlikely.
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However, he warned against reopening too quickly, especially with more communicable variants.
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As more Americans develop immunity to the coronavirus, the country is unlikely to experience another increase in cases, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said during an interview that aired Sunday.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CBS’s Face the Nation program that as the vaccination rate increases, along with the millions of Americans who may have natural immunity after being infected, the United States is unlikely to experience another significant increase in cases.
“We are talking about some form of protective immunity in about 55% of the population,” said Gottlieb. “There is a sufficient barrier here that I don’t think you will see a fourth wave.”
However, Gottlieb added that U.S. case numbers are likely to remain stagnant for a while before they start to fall again, citing two reasons: the most contagious coronavirus strain discovered in the UK that is now more prevalent, as well as ” because we are moving back very quickly in terms of taking off our masks and suspending mitigation. “
More than 81.4 million Americans, or a quarter of the country, received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with more than 44.1 million fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If you look in Europe, where they are having a real fourth wave, they vaccinated only one in nine adults. Here in the USA, we vaccinated one in three. In the UK, which is seeing consistent drops, they vaccinated one in so two, so vaccination is going to be a barrier and we continue to vaccinate about three million people a day now, “said Gottlieb.
About 30 million Americans have been infected with the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Gottlieb said that if a variant capable of perforating immunity spreads, it could change the trajectory of the United States.
Other experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have also previously warned against drastically lifting restrictions on coronavirus, saying that while cases are declining, the plateau is not low enough.
“I don’t know why they are doing this, but from a public health perspective it is certainly not advisable,” Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor, told CNN earlier this month after some states withdrew. the mandates of the masks.
“Simply removing all of the public health guidelines that we know works – and if you take a look at the curve, we know it works – it is simply unexplainable why you would like to step back now.”
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