The recent decline in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is unlikely to be related to vaccine distribution, and people should continue to adhere to public health guidelines to slow the spread of the virus, said the country’s leading infectious disease expert.
“The number of vaccines that we put in people’s arms, [it’s] a good start, we want to continue and vaccinate many people, but I don’t think the dynamics of what we are seeing now with the plateau will be influenced significantly yet – it will be soon – but still by the vaccine, ”Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said during an interview at NBC’s “Today”Show Monday.
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According Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 22 million doses were administered across the country with more than 41 million distributed.
Fauci said the decline in cases and hospitalizations in the past few days is likely due to a natural plateau of infections after the spike caused by the holiday season. Cases fell more than 20 percent in the past two weeks across the country. The seven-day average for new daily cases is more than 167,000, and more than 110,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19.
“We don’t want to be complacent.”
To watch @SavannahGuthrieThe full interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci about vaccine shortages, new strains of coronavirus and what comes next. pic.twitter.com/15plEBZ5e1
– TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 25, 2021
“We don’t want to be complacent and think, ‘Oh, things are going in the right direction, we can back off a bit’, because we have a variant of the UK circulating in the country that is in more than 20 states, right now,” said the adviser. chief physician of the president.
The UK variant, which CDC says it will likely become the dominant strain in the U.S., believed to be more transmissible, and British health officials warned last week that there was evidence that it could be more deadly.
Fauci emphasized that the data is still preliminary, but said he is “quite convinced that there is a degree of increase in the severity of the actual infection”.
Health officials said they believe current vaccines should be effective against the UK strain and the new South African strain.
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