WASHINGTON – Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, directly appealed to Americans on Sunday to “press the reset button” on the suspicion of approved Covit-19 vaccines, giving the public confidence in the independence of the approval process and strong safety measures.
In an interview with Meet the Press, Collins said that distrust of vaccines is of great concern to public health officials, and that “anyone who wants to” see “the facts surrounding the vaccine’s development, testing and safety record should be reassured.”
“I would like to beg people who hear this this morning to press the reset button on anything they think they know about this vaccine. The data is not there now,” he said.
“It’s incredibly intense, the most powerful result of years of experience in creating this. How can you say that we will wait and see if it means that a terrible tragedy is going to happen? ”
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the Pfizer Covit-19 vaccine for emergency use in the United States, making it the first vaccine to achieve that status in the country.
The vaccine began shipping Sunday morning, with some vaccines starting earlier this week.
Pfizer’s Phase 3 trials found that the vaccine was 95 percent effective when given in two doses three weeks apart. The FDA has also found that only one shot provides 50 percent immunity to Govit-19, so both shots are necessary.
The Pfizer vaccine already has some form of recognition in the United Kingdom, Canada and Bahrain. More vaccines are already in the later stages of development.
But for months, the poll showed that a significant portion of the United States was skeptical of getting the Govt-19 vaccine.
President Donald Trump has sought to borrow for the rapid and effective development of the vaccine. He has pressed public health officials to approve the vaccine for widespread use. For example, before the FDA’s approval announcement on Friday, Trump tweeted that FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn “should get the SIC vaccine out now” and “stop playing and start saving lives.”
When asked if such rhetoric has contributed to public perception of the vaccine, Collins replied, “I think this is part of the suspicion, and with many things that reflect the terrible polarization we have about everything in this country.”
“There are very few vaccines that have been studied at this level. If you want to see the facts, I think you have to be very reassuring,” Collins said.
“Putting all the noise aside, yes, all doubts born of possible interference from one source or another. It does not determine the outcome. It is based on scientific decision making.”
Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise in the United States as vaccines are sent nationwide for early vaccination.
According to the Govt Tracking Program, there are currently more than 108,000 people in US hospitals with Govt-19, and the number of current hospital admissions has been steadily increasing over the past seven days.
There were more than 210,000 new lawsuits in the United States on Saturday, with three states (Delaware, South Carolina and West Virginia) setting new, one-day lawsuits. While Alaska and Massachusetts created daily death records on Saturday, 2,376 deaths on Saturday were infected with the virus, according to NBC News analysis.
Against a bad background, Collins said widespread vaccination is very important.
“It depends on the American people as to whether people are willing to participate in this immunization program,” he said.
“Experts say 70-80 percent of Americans need immunity before they give up on the virus, and it will go away. We think about 330 million Americans interested in getting the vaccine could go there in June or so. Let’s keep going. ”
He noted that while it is clear that the vaccine provides strong protection for people from the Covid-19 infection, it still takes scientists a few months to find out if a person who has been vaccinated can still spread the infection without them knowing it.
That’s why masks should still be an essential part of American life for many months to come, Collins said.
“Masks are still going to be a part of our lives and we need to recognize it and not give up or abandon our protector,” he said.
“We need to double everything Americans can do to save lives, and look at the lives we have lost and the tragedy there. If we had a chance to create these next few months, it might be too dark and a little better, why wouldn’t we do it?”