Infectious disease specialist Michael Osterholm warned on Monday of the inevitability of another wave of coronavirus infections in the United States.
“While vaccination is important, it is obviously a critical part of our long-term game plan, we are not going to have enough vaccine, the way we are going, in the arms of enough Americans over the next six to ten weeks, with this increase , let’s stop it, ”said Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“It just won’t happen,” he added.
Osterholm noted that some states, even where the vaccination rate has been high, are now experiencing a daily rise in new infections.
As GOP-led states lift pandemic restrictions, new infections across the country reach about 65,000. It is a stubborn detail that worries public health experts.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, warned last week that “now is not the time to step back and declare premature victory.”
Osterholm warned on Sunday that the next wave will most likely affect children, due to the prevalence of the most contagious B.1.1.7. variant.
“Unlike previous strains of the virus, we did not see children below the eighth grade being infected frequently, or they were not often very sick,” said Osterholm on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “Children are playing an important role in transmitting this,” he added to Fox News.
See the CNN interview here:
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