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Video above: Are we officially out of the woods with COVID-19? Massachusetts doctor responds With the chances the United States will have reached the target of 70% partially vaccinated adults by July 4 – a target set by President Joe Biden – a vaccine expert said the time press to forestall potential spread of COVID- 19 variants. “Vaccines are our only way out,” Dr. Paul Offit told CNN. “Unless we vaccinate a significant percentage of the population before the onset of winter, you will see a greater spread and the creation of more variants, which will only make this task more difficult. The number of COVID-19 cases and infections has declined, Offit said. But with hundreds of deaths and at least 10,000 people infected most of the time, rates are still too high to prevent the summer lull from turning into a winter wave, he said. Experts have warned that the continued spread of the virus could lead to many more – and potentially more transmissible and dangerous – variants. The United States has already experienced outbreaks of highly transmissible alpha and delta variants, while the spread of the gamma variant is increasing in several states. In order to achieve herd immunity, or the point at which the virus cannot easily spread within the community, experts have proposed estimates requiring vaccination of 70 to 90% of the population. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 53% of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. And only 65% of adults received at least one dose. Knowing that vaccines are our only way to fight the pandemic, the hardest part would have been figuring out how to build those vaccines, ”said Offit, key member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee. “The hardest part is getting people to get it, which is remarkable.” The variants should encourage people to get vaccinated, experts say the spread of variants shouldn’t be a concern for those who are vaccinated, Dr Anthony Fauci told NPR, but it should be. an incentive to be vaccinated. The CDC elevated the delta variant to a worrying variant this week. Fauci said that “the combination of greater transmissibility and greater disease severity, appropriately, prompted the CDC to elevate it to a variant of concern.” When asked how concerned he is with the variant, Fauci said, “I’m not concerned because the good news of all of this, among the gravity of the situation with regard to the variant, it is is that vaccines work really well. “People who are vaccinated are protected” which is another very good reason to strongly encourage people to get vaccinated because if you are not vaccinated you may risk getting vaccinated. ‘to be infected with a virus which now spreads faster and gives more serious illness, “said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Experts and authorities are pushing for people who are still hesitant to get vaccinated and to help slow the spread. “What do we do if a critical percentage of this population chooses not to be vaccinated and chooses to Allow this virus to continue to spread, to continue to injure themselves and others and to continue to create variants that become all the more contagious and all the more difficult to contain, “Offit said. Vaccine protection could last a year – or much longer. Fortunately, the protection offered by vaccines appears to be very strong, said Offit. “Although immunity may wane for protection against mild illness or asymptomatic infection or mildly moderate illness, I think protection against critical illness is likely to be relatively long, that is, for a few years. years “he said. “The so-called cellular immune response induced by these vaccines appears to be excellent. But experts can only rely on six months of data because vaccines are so new. And scientists still can’t say for sure how long the protection will last. Their durability will determine whether the population will need boosters, Fauci said. effective. We’re talking about the length of protection, which we know is very high right now, ”said Fauci, who is also Biden’s chief medical adviser. The NIH is monitoring if there is an increase in rare breakthrough infections – defined as infections in those vaccinated – but scientists hope to recognize the problem before it becomes a problem. Currently, the NIH is conducting clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine with boosters against the original strains, as well as boosters that target the variants. Experts will need to monitor COVID-19 infections to determine how long the public can go without more vaccinations, Fauci said: “It could be a year, it could be 18 months, it could be much longer. have to follow it and we will act on the information we get, “he said.
Video above: Are we officially out of the woods with COVID-19? Massachusetts doctor responds
With the odds against the United States hitting the target of 70% partially vaccinated adults by July 4 – a target set by President Joe Biden – a vaccine expert said time was running out for anticipate the potential spread of COVID-19 variants.
“Vaccines are our only way out,” Dr. Paul Offit told CNN. “Unless we vaccinate a significant percentage of the population before winter comes, you will see more spread and more variants being created, which will only make this task more difficult. “
The number of COVID-19 cases and infections has declined, Offit said. But with hundreds of deaths and at least 10,000 people infected most of the time, rates are still too high to prevent the summer lull from turning into a winter wave, he said.
Experts have warned that the continued spread of the virus could lead to more – and potentially more transmissible and dangerous – variants.
The United States has already experienced outbreaks of highly transmissible alpha and delta variants, while the spread of the gamma variant is increasing in several states.
In order to achieve herd immunity, or the point at which the virus cannot easily spread within the community, experts have proposed estimates that it requires the vaccination of 70 to 90 percent of the population. According to Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention, only 53% of the population received at least one dose of the vaccine.
And only 65% of adults received at least one dose.
“You would have thought at the start of this, knowing that vaccines are our only way to fight the pandemic, the hardest part would have been figuring out how to build these vaccines,” said Offit, a key member of the Vaccine Advisory Board of the FDA. . “The hardest part is getting people to get it, which is remarkable.”
Variants should encourage people to get vaccinated, experts say
The spread of variants shouldn’t be a concern for those who are vaccinated, Dr Anthony Fauci told NPR, but it should be an incentive to get vaccinated.
The CDC elevated the delta variant to a worrying variant this week. Fauci said that “the combination of greater transmissibility and greater disease severity, appropriately, prompted the CDC to elevate it to a variant of concern.”
When asked how concerned he was about the variant, Fauci said, “I’m not concerned about those vaccinated. Because the good news about all of this, amid the gravity of the situation in this regard. Regarding the variant, is that the vaccines work really well. “
People who have been vaccinated are protected, “which is another very good reason to strongly encourage people to get vaccinated because if you are not vaccinated you may be infected with a virus which now spreads faster and more. gives more serious illness, “said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Experts and officials are pushing for people who are still hesitant to get vaccinated and to help slow the spread.
“What do we do if a critical percentage of this population chooses not to be vaccinated and chooses to allow this virus to continue to spread, to continue to injure themselves and to harm others and to continue to create variants that become all the more contagious and all the more difficult to contain, ”said Offit.
Vaccine protection could last a year, or even much longer
Fortunately, the protection offered by vaccines appears to be very strong, Offit said.
“Although immunity may wane for protection against mild illness or asymptomatic infection or mildly moderate illness, I think protection against critical illness is likely to be relatively long, that is, for a few years, ”he said. “The so-called cellular immune response induced by these vaccines appears to be excellent. “
But experts can only rely on six months of data because vaccines are so new. And scientists still can’t say for sure how long the protection will last.
Their durability will determine whether the population will need boosters, Fauci said.
“I want to stress, by durability, I don’t mean that vaccines aren’t effective now. We’re talking about the duration of protection, which we know is very high right now,” Fauci said, who is also responsible for Biden. chief medical officer.
The NIH is monitoring to see if there is an increase in rare breakthrough infections – defined as infections in people vaccinated – but scientists hope to recognize the problem before it becomes a problem. Currently, the NIH is conducting clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine with boosters against the original strains, as well as boosters targeting the variants.
Experts will need to monitor COVID-19 infections to determine how long the public can go without more vaccinations, Fauci said.
“It could be a year, it could be 18 months, it could be a lot longer. We’re going to have to follow it, and we will act on the information we get,” he said.
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