“If by July 4, with the launch of the vaccine, we get the level of infection so low – I will not be able to say exactly what the specific guidelines of the USA (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are, but I can ensure that (the guidelines) will be much more liberal than they are now about what you can do, “CNN Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN Touch” State of the Union. “
“They had a decrease in cases. They stagnated and withdrew public health measures, ”he said. “They opened restaurants. They opened some of the bars. The younger ones stopped wearing masks. Suddenly, you have a wave that has gone up again.”
He continued, “This is where we are now. We can prevent this, Jake. We can prevent that, if we continue to vaccinate people, we will get more and more protection without suddenly going back on public health measures.”
“We can do it today. We just need vaccines from the federal government, ”he said. “We cannot buy vaccines. We cannot manufacture vaccines. So if the president and his team can deliver, we don’t have to wait until May 1, we can get there faster.”
In announcing his plan last week, Biden introduced new steps that the government believes make the May 1 timeline realistic, including expanding the types of professionals who can administer vaccines. Dentists, veterinarians and paramedics will be included in the new approved list.
Kevin Liptak, Jeff Zeleny and Jen Christensen of CNN contributed to this report.