US coronavirus: officials call for more doses of vaccine, as the number of deaths in the US exceeds 400,000

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As the numbers increase, experts and health officials have focused their attention on mitigating the impacts of the new variant that has caused the alarm, and calling for faster vaccination and preventive measures.

The number of people in the United States who have died from the virus rose rapidly over the past year to 400,000 points on Tuesday. And while the rate of new cases has dropped recently, experts warn that a variant of the virus could increase cases again.

“I am desperately worried that in the next six to twelve weeks we will see a situation with this pandemic, unlike anything we have seen so far,” said Michael Osterholm, coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden and director of the Center for University of Minnesota Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “This will happen, we will see a significant increase in cases, the challenge is how many,” he told CNN on Tuesday.

When the administration of President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Osterholm said he will do everything possible to bolster distribution. But, he said, “we can’t make the vaccine go much faster than it is now,” he added, adding that officials will have to plan dramatic actions to keep the variant under control.

“The difference will be,‘ Will we react now or later? Osterholm said.

Officials say they need more vaccines

Faster vaccine deployment requests have raised questions about the doses of the vaccine believed to be stored, concerns that Dr. Anthony Fauci, an infectious disease expert, said is a misunderstanding.

“In the beginning, when we wanted to make sure that everyone who received a dose received a second dose. Because of the uncertainty in the smoothness of the deployment of the doses that would be available, half of the doses would be retained so that it would guarantee people would get their second dose, “Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.

Now, with more confidence in constant distribution, those doses that have been withheld have been made available, Fauci said.

States complain that demand for the Covid-19 vaccine exceeds supply
Across the U.S., more than 10.5 million people have received at least the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, about 1.6 million of whom have received a second dose, according to CDC data updated last Friday.

But state and local officials are concerned that supply will not be enough to continue the momentum.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health announced that supply will run out on Thursday if there are no additional batches. New York will end the same day, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

“If we don’t get more vaccine quickly, we will have to cancel appointments,” de Blasio said.

Due to its low supply of vaccines, Baptist Health South Florida has canceled all vaccination appointments for anyone scheduled to receive a first dose starting Wednesday.

Georgia is scheduled for vaccinations with volunteer staff and infrastructure, but there are not enough doses available in the state, said Georgia Department of Health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey.

“We’ve received about 80,000 doses a week and that’s not much for a state with 11 million people,” he said.

Will vaccines protect against the variant?

Experts have warned that while the variant first identified in the UK does not look more deadly, it is more easily transmitted. To date, more than 120 cases have been identified in 20 states, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other variants have also been found, including two in Brazil. Another has appeared in California, but it is not known if it contributes to the renewal of its dissemination.
These variants of the coronavirus keep scientists awake at night
A new study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests that someone could be infected with some of the new coronavirus variants, even if they have had Covid-19 before or been vaccinated.

But other experts are confident the vaccines will protect against the variant.

“The effectiveness of the vaccine is so good and so high that we have a little pillow,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, incoming director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Howard Bauchner, editor-in-chief of JAMA. .

With a starting point of about 95% efficacy, Walensky said that even if vaccines are a little less effective against new variants, they will still be more effective than most vaccines.

“It’s going to work against the variant,” he said. “Will it be 95%? Maybe. Will it be 70%? Maybe. But our flu vaccines aren’t 75% effective every year and we still get them.”

CNN’s Christina Maxouris, Jason Hanna, Naomi Thomas, Jamiel Lynch, Kay Jones, Alexandra Meeks, Elizabeth Cohen and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

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