Dr. Kavita Patel predicted that July 4th will mark “a turning point or a turning point” in the fight against Covid by the United States.
“If we manage to achieve this collective immunity … we will be able to suppress the activity of this virus to the levels we see with the flu virus,” Patel told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” late on Thursday. “Moving from a pandemic and a kind of global emergency to an endemic where it is just a normal part of what we are dealing with is something we can expect,” added the former Obama policy advisor.
While her prediction was in line with President Biden’s goal of bringing the nation to some semblance of normality by Independence Day, she noted that regular boosters or Covid vaccines are likely to be needed to move forward, especially with the spread of communicable variants.
Pfizer released new data from Israel, suggesting that its dual vaccine is about 97% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid cases and 94% effective against asymptomatic cases. The analysis also showed high levels of protection against the highly transmissible variant B.1.1.7 from the United Kingdom, which is also spreading in the USA.
As of Friday morning, one in 10 Americans was fully vaccinated – and in total, more than 98 million doses were administered across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency also reported that 62% of all Americans aged 65 and older received at least one dose and nearly a third were fully vaccinated.
Patel expects the Food and Drug Administration to fully approve Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “soon”, especially as more data accumulates. Everything there was cleared for emergency in the United States.