The former Food and Drug Administration commissioner has shared his concern that the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines will be slowed if a large number of people refuse to shoot, predicting that only a third of American population will volunteer for innocence.
Dr Scott Gottlieb expressed his concerns in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday morning, saying many younger people who are unlikely to face serious illnesses could refuse to get vaccinated.
To date, 10.5 million Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, out of the 31 million doses distributed in the states, according to the latest available data from the CDC.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated that up to 80 percent of the U.S. population, or about 260 million people, will need to be vaccinated to get herd immunity, the point at which the virus cannot spread widely. .
Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Tuesday expressed concern that the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines will be slowed by a large number of Americans rejecting the shot.
“At some point demand will become an issue,” Gottlieb said in the interview, noting that last fall, the number of people who received a flu shot hit a record, but it was still only 120 million.
“They were people who were worried about the release of COVID and the flu vaccine. It may be the universe of people who really have a significant demand for COVID vaccine,” he said.
“There will be a lot of intense demand even in younger cohorts, but I think once we get to 100 million, maybe 120 million vaccines, the demand will go smooth,” he added.
“We’ve talked about access being the real challenge right now and we’re talking about supply right now because we’re starting to reach a steady supply state and it’s hard to increase supply in the short term,” Gottlieb said. . “At some point, demand will be an issue.”
“We can’t lose sight of it and take it for granted that everyone wants this vaccine,” he said.
Joseph Leblanc receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday at John Knox Village in Pompano Beach, Florida
The latest Pew Research survey on the issue indicates that 60% of Americans say they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine.
Meanwhile, in New York State, nearly a third of nursing home workers refused to get vaccinated, the governor’s office told the New York Times.
In some cases, staff members who rejected the vaccine outnumbered those who have been vaccinated. In Long Island, 46% decreased and 34% were vaccinated.
The Ohio governor previously said a staggering 60 percent of nursing home workers in that state refused to get vaccinated.
The latest Pew Research survey on the issue indicates that 60 percent of Americans say they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine if it were available today.
That was over 51% who said the same thing in September. However, about four out of ten say they would definitely or probably not get a vaccine.
About half of this reluctant group (or 18 percent of U.S. adults) say they may change their minds when people start getting a vaccine and more information is available.
President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to vaccinate 100 million people in his first 100 days in office.
His plan includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard building coronavirus vaccine clinics in the United States.
Biden’s new CDC director has said the new administration plans to incorporate medical and military students to increase the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Good Step Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday morning that the CDC will commission military medical personnel, retirees and nursing and medical students to make sure there are enough people “on the ground” to be shot in the arms. of the Americans.
Walensky said they will also make the vaccine more “accessible” by launching mobile vans and giving more doses to pharmacies, as he promised the incoming administration will focus on “science.”
He did not say in the brief interview whether the government would change any of the eligibility requirements for people receiving the vaccine, or whether it would leave more of the decision-making to the states.