“We’ve seen what happens in other countries that have really had a coronavirus under relatively good control, then these variants took over and had an explosive spread of the virus and then overflowed hospitals,” the emergency doctor said. Leana Wen and Anderson Cooper.
“If there’s anything more contagious between us, if we thought going to the grocery store before was relatively safe, we’re actually more likely to get coronavirus through these daily activities,” he said.
“Using an even better mask, reducing the number of times we have to go out shopping or in crowded indoor environments, will all be helpful,” Wen added.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC Monday that wearing two masks is likely to be more effective in stopping the spread of the virus.
“If you have a physical coating with one coat, put on another, it just makes sense that it would probably be more effective,” he said.
Modern says her vaccine protects against some variants
The good news, Fauci told CNN in a separate interview Monday, is that current Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be effective against the new variants.
“The worrying news,” he added, “(is) as more and more replication is obtained, more and more evolution of mutants can be obtained, which means it must always be one step ahead.”
But as Covid-19 evolves, it will be important to demonstrate “over and over again” that vaccines offer protection against new strains, said Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge, during a panel Monday.
“Until we are completely suppressed and controlled, and people are vaccinated or HIV-positive and protected against it, it will be an ongoing battle for the next two years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently being tested in South Africa, the United States and Brazil, and those results could provide an idea of how the emerging variants work, said one of its developers. The company has said it could share its phase 3 vaccine test data as early as this week.
“If we look at the results of efficacy … it will give us information not only about whether this vaccine candidate is effective or not, but it will also give us information about whether or not variants circulating in South Africa can be a problem. for vaccines, “Dr. Dan Barouch, a professor at Harvard Medical School, told CNN.
6% of the American population has received a Covid-19 shot
A White House official told CNN that the administration’s official goal remains to administer 100 million shots during the president’s first 100 days in office.
Across the country, health leaders and state officials have been working to improve their vaccination strategies and increase the number of gunfire.
CVS will begin offering in situ vaccines at more than 270 locations in 11 states in February, Dr. David Fairchild, associate medical director of CVS Health, said Monday.
“We are definitely ready and want to play an important role in helping to get the vaccine,” he added. “Our internal goal is to have a capacity to make 25 million shots a month or more.”
Jim Virginia, governor of West Virginia, unveiled a new online pre-registration system on Monday, which allows residents to pre-register to receive a vaccine. Since the system’s launch Monday morning, more than 32,000 residents had scheduled an appointment with the vaccine, the governor said. This will work in conjunction with an existing hotline to which residents can call and pre-register.
Illinois announced Monday that it would enter its next vaccination stage, opening guidelines for people 65 and older and essential front-line workers, including teachers, lifeguards and grocery workers. The governor added that as more doses become available, more mass vaccination sites will be opened.
Chicago will target 15 “high-need communities based on the city’s COVID vulnerability index,” the mayor said in a press release. The initiative will include “strike teams” that will reach “those who may be disconnected from more traditional vaccine administration channels,” he said.
“Our city is two-thirds people of color,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news release. “Still, we’re lagging far behind in the number of people of color vaccinated today.”
Lightfoot said of the nearly 108,000 residents who have received the first dose of vaccine, only 17% are Latino and 15% are black.
Supply is still limited
But many states are still struggling with supply.
Kentucky has used about 88 percent of its first doses so far, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday, and asked the federal government to send more supplies.
Beshear told reporters that the state achieved a historic high vaccination rate last week with more than 82,500 doses administered, but stressed that the state could be in the range of 250,000 doses a week if the supply were there.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also renewed the call for more vaccines as the state continues to exhaust the offer allocated by the federal government.
“I continue to urge our federal partners and the new Biden administration in Washington to immediately increase the distribution of vaccines,” Polis said in a statement. “Colorado is ready to immediately use three or four times as many vaccines as we currently receive each week immediately.”
To date, the state has administered more than 458,400 shots, more than 82,600 of which are second doses.
“The sooner Colorado has more vaccines, the faster we can put them into arms and the faster we can help our small businesses and economy rebuild stronger,” the governor said. “We are prepared and welcome renewed federal assistance to get the job done.”
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Taylor Romine, Gisela Crespo, Omar Jiménez, Amanda Sealy, Andrea Díaz, Leslie Perrot, Maggie Fox, and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.