ATLANTA (CNN) – The United States is at risk of losing all of its recent gains in the battle against COVID-19, as highly contagious variants take advantage of the fact that Americans are negligent with security measures.
“Please listen to me clearly: at this level of cases with the spread of variants, we can completely lose the ground we have conquered with difficulty,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.
After weeks of declining cases, new infections are increasing again – about 2% more last week compared to the previous week, Walensky said on Monday.
“Likewise, the most recent seven-day average of deaths has also increased by more than 2% … to almost 2,000 deaths per day.”
Walensky also highlighted the states that were easing COVID-19’s security mandates.
“I am really concerned about reports that more states are reversing the exact public health measures that we recommend to protect people from COVID-19,” she said.
“Please remain firm in your conviction. Continue to wear your tight-fitting mask and take the other public health prevention actions that we know will work,” added Walensky.
“Ultimately, vaccination is what will get us out of this pandemic. To get there, we need to vaccinate many more people.”
A third vaccine will help with mass vaccination
The good news this week: the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will begin to be administered.
“There is a kind of new urgency to this,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, a professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
“As there are new viral variants emerging now, with some chance that some of them may eventually become resistant to the protection provided by vaccines, it is really important to get them out quickly.”
About 3.9 million doses of the J&J vaccine will be distributed to states, tribes, territories, pharmacies and community health centers, a senior Biden government official said Sunday night.
“These doses of J&J will be delivered as early as Tuesday morning.”
As a single-dose vaccine, “people don’t need to return for a second dose to be protected,” said Walensky.
“In addition, this vaccine does not need to be kept in a freezer and can be stored at refrigerated temperatures. Therefore, it is easy to transport and store and allows for greater availability in most community environments and mobile locations as supply increases.”
The other two vaccines distributed – one from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other from Moderna – have efficacy rates of around 95%, with even greater protection against severe forms of the disease.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed a 72% efficacy rate against mild to severe / critical illness among study participants in the United States. It is most effective against severe forms of disease, with about 85% protection.
Health experts say that Americans should not be discouraged by the slightly lower numbers of J&J. His vaccine was tested later than the other two vaccines, when infections were already on the rise and new variant strains were spreading more widely.
The J&J vaccine was also tested in South Africa, when the disturbing strain B.1.351 was dominant there, but it still gave strong protection against serious diseases.
Don’t be too picky about which vaccine you are going to get
Health experts, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, said they would be happy to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if it were the only one available, because all three vaccines distributed in the United States are highly effective against severe COVID-19.
And if this is the only vaccine available in your area, you should go ahead and get it as soon as you can, said CNN medical analyst, Dr. Leana Wen, on Monday.
“Think about the other vaccines we received. If we are going to get the flu shot, I don’t think anyone is asking the brand of the flu shot (or) which company makes it.”
Furthermore, “in the immediate future, people will have no choice when supply is a limiting factor,” she said.
“At the moment, the key is to get some kind of immunity. Get any vaccine that is available to you. You can always get another vaccine or booster shot later, when the supply is not the problem.”
New variants continue to spread
March will be a very important chapter in this pandemic. The CDC predicted that the highly contagious variant B.1.1.7 first detected in the United Kingdom will become the dominant strain in the United States this month.
More than 2,460 infections involving variant strains have been reported, according to CDC data. The vast majority of these cases – at least 2,400 – are of the highly contagious B.1.1.7 strain.
These counts are probably much lower than the actual number of people infected with variants. The numbers represent only the variant cases found through genomic sequencing, said the CDC.
At the moment, the key is to get some kind of immunity. Get any vaccine that is available to you first. You can always get another vaccine or booster injection later, when the problem is not the supply.
–CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen
The United States lagged behind dozens of other countries in the proportion of cases tested for variants, but the CDC said it is working to increase these efforts.
Can vaccines avoid the new variants?
Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are trying to ensure that their vaccines are ahead of variants.
The B.1.351 strain first detected in South Africa has the most worrisome effects on vaccines’ ability to produce an immune response, said Dr. Heather Scobie at the CDC’s Immunization Practices Advisory Committee (ACIP) meeting in Monday.
She also said that two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine protect people better than just one dose.
“Five studies have shown that postponing the second dose of mRNA can make some people less protected against SARS-Cov-2 variants,” said Scobie at the ACIP meeting.
The Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines are mRNA vaccines.
“All studies showed improved neutralization of B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 after the second dose of the vaccine,” she said. “In some studies, people who have recovered from COVID-19 and received a dose of vaccine have had moderate protection against B.1.351.”
Johnson & Johnson is working on a booster to help its COVID-19 vaccine deal with new strains of coronavirus variants, CEO Alex Gorsky said on Monday.
“While we are encouraged and confident in the current vaccine we have, you always have to prepare for the future and, frankly, for the unknown,” said Gorsky.
Last week, Moderna said it developed a booster injection to help prevent strain B.1.351, which worried scientists because it has a mutation that could affect the effectiveness of vaccines.
This injection would serve as a booster for people who have already been vaccinated and as a primary vaccine for people who have not had coronavirus and have not yet been vaccinated.
Moderna is also testing a third lower dose of its current vaccine on trial participants to see if it would protect against problematic variants.
Pfizer and BioNTech said last week that they started testing how well a third dose of their authorized vaccine compares to new variants.
On Monday, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said it would take another six to eight weeks to obtain real-world data showing the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against variant B.1.351.
Many more need vaccine before herd immunity
While the news of the third COVID-19 vaccine is worth celebrating, the United States is still a long way from collective immunity. It is when a sufficient number of people are protected against a virus that cannot spread to the population.
About 15.3% of the US population received at least one injection of their modern two-dose vaccine, Moderna or Pfizer / BioNTech, according to CDC data available on Monday.
About 7.7% of Americans were fully vaccinated with both doses.
Vaccines will be tested on children
Now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has proven to be safe and effective in adults, the company will begin studies with children, said Dr. Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development and medical affairs for J&J’s vaccine arm, Janssen.
“We will conduct a number of immunogenicity and safety studies in 17-year-olds on neonates,” Douoguih told a CDC advisory committee on Sunday.
“The study on adolescents, we hope, will begin next week. We are also looking at a study on pregnant women in the second and third trimesters in late March, early April,” said Douoguih.
Johnson & Johnson also plans to start the study on immunocompromised people in the third quarter of this year, said Douoguih.
The FDA’s emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently for use in adults 18 years and older.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine has been authorized for people aged 16 and over, and the Modern COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for people aged 18 and over.
Both Moderna and Pfizer have started enrolling children in COVID-19 vaccine trials.
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