Richard Besser, who served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, said the United States is better off if it continues to focus on giving patients two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, despite slow release.
In CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith”, Besser agreed with comments made on Monday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. During a White House Covid-19 briefing, Fauci said that staying on the two-dose course gives us the clearest way to protect people from the virus and its growing number of variants.
“I would go with Dr. Fauci on this one,” said Besser. “I am concerned that if we choose a single dose regimen, we will be able to provide people with sub-optimal levels of protection.”
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration based on the protection they provide after two doses, administered at separate times. Due to the slower-than-expected release of the vaccine, along with Covid-19 variants appearing across the country, some scientists have recommended distributing single vaccines to more people, rather than double doses to fewer patients.
Besser, who now serves as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, also said it was too early for states to start opening bars and restaurants for larger groups of people. He said that while the evidence shows that we can open schools safely, internal social gatherings can lead to wider outbreaks “if we let our guard down.”