“We must act now and I am concerned that if we do not take the right measures now, we will have another preventable increase – just as we are seeing in Europe now and just as we are aggressively stepping up vaccination,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Monday.
And high levels of infection now can also spell trouble for vaccines later, an expert told CNN on Monday.
“Not only does the uncontrolled spread cause preventable diseases, hospitalization and death, but it increases the risk that an even more dangerous variant could arise and make the vaccine less effective,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the CDC.
Trips and crowds tend to cause spikes
While vaccines are being launched, Frieden says Americans should continue to take precautions, such as wearing masks and limiting travel and time indoors with people who are not at home.
“When people travel and mix, you can see a big outbreak of infections a few weeks later,” he added.
Vaccines have already saved thousands of lives
Frieden says he believes the United States is likely to see another increase, but this will be “much less deadly” because of the vaccines being administered.
“We estimate that vaccination has already saved at least 40,000 lives in the United States,” said Frieden. “These vaccines are really good and the faster we get them, the better.”
The Data and Security Monitoring Committee “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that study, which may have provided an incomplete view of the effectiveness data,” the statement said.
“We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review effectiveness data and ensure that the most accurate and up-to-date effectiveness data is made public as soon as possible,” he added.
Previously, AstraZeneca said it expected to deliver 50 million doses within a month if it obtained authorization for emergency use.
“We plan to present it to the FDA in the first half of April, assuming that the FDA is very supportive of our request,” Ruud Dobber, president of AstraZeneca’s biopharmaceutical business unit, told CNN in a statement.
“After FDA approval, we will instantly launch 30 million doses in that first phase and, in the same month, another 20 million,” added the statement.
Recommendations for fully vaccinated
Americans who are already fully vaccinated should feel free to visit their unvaccinated family and friends without restrictions, CDC officials said on Monday, but added that visits should be limited to one unvaccinated family at a time.
“In the scenario where unvaccinated people are from a single family and all unvaccinated people are at low risk of serious Covid-19 disease, no preventive measures are needed, so these visits can take place indoors without a mask or distance. physicist, “CDC epidemiologist Tami Skoff said.
For example, fully vaccinated grandparents can visit their unvaccinated daughter and unvaccinated children indoors and without masks, assuming that none of them are at a higher risk for serious illness, Skoff said.
The recommendations apply only to people who are fully vaccinated, said Skoff, meaning that it has been at least two weeks since the second dose of a series of two-dose vaccines or two weeks since receiving the Johnson single-dose vaccine & Johnson.
“There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have asymptomatic infection and therefore potentially less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others,” said Skoff.
But there are two important exceptions that require everyone to follow safety precautions: if any of the unvaccinated people are at high risk for severe Covid-19 or if there are more than two unvaccinated families mixing.
One third of hospitalized patients experience long-term effects
Researchers are also trying to understand more about the long-term consequences of infections – and how many people can be affected.
About a third of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 experience long-term effects that can affect various organ systems, according to a comprehensive review of scientific studies published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.
The researchers reviewed the scientific literature on post-acute Covid-19 – meaning complications caused by the virus that extend beyond four weeks after the onset of symptoms.
The effects of “Long Covid” can have an impact on more than half a dozen organ systems, including the pulmonary, hematological, cardiovascular, neuropsychiatric, renal, dermatological, gastrointestinal and endocrine systems, studies show.
Among the most common prolonged symptoms: fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, tachycardia, anxiety, sleep disorders, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The researchers suggested a framework for caring for these patients through long, multidisciplinary Covid clinics and praised the work of patient advocacy groups, including the COVID Advocacy Exchange, the Body Politic and Survivor Corps, to collect data on patients’ symptoms and coordinate with researchers to help collect More Information.
CNN’s Pete Muntean, Michael Nedelman, Ryan Prior, Christopher Rios, Ben Tinker and Maggie Fox contributed to this report.