“What is the purpose of this vaccine? The stated goal (the director of CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky) and others, is to prevent serious infections, and all the data released today by CDC, presented by the CDC, are that is exactly what is being done, “Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert and adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Friday.
“There has been no evidence of clear erosion of protection against serious disease,” he said.
The conversation around vaccines has fluctuated because health experts are learning new information about the coronavirus and its variants.
But in the midst of the debate, experts are consistent in ascertaining the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Remember, even the current doses of vaccines still protect you so well from hospitalization and death. We are not going back to early 2020 or even early 2021 for those of us who have not yet received reinforcements. we are protected from the worst effects of this virus, “Dr. Megan Ranney, a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University, told CNN on Friday.
A CNN analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month suggests that more than 99.99% of fully vaccinated people have not had an advanced case of COVID-19 that has been hospitalized or died .
And it is because of such a high degree of protection that Offit stressed that the United States can make significant progress against the pandemic by simply vaccinating the unvaccinated.
He added that the federal government’s messages about reinforcing features have been confusing and frustrating.
“It’s confusing for people. I’ve received several calls and emails from people saying, ‘Wait, so I’m not completely protected anymore?’ “, Offit said.
“I think the message that should come out right now is that if you have received two doses of mRNA vaccines, you have a good chance of not having a serious infection and that it has lasted until now, that you should consider yourself protected against serious diseases “.
Oscar de la Hoya retires from fighting back while fighting COVID-19 infection
Approximately 62.2% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while approximately 52.9% are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. Of the ten states with the worst rates of COVID-19 cases over the past week, seven of them also had among the top ten vaccination rates, according to the agency.
The plan for booster shots “confuses people,” says the top FDA official
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet on Sept. 17 to discuss COVID-19 reinforcements. Last month, the White House said people who received the two mRNA vaccines (the two-shot vaccines manufactured by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna) could receive boosters starting Sept. 20.
However, on Thursday, the FDA’s interim commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said the administration does not yet have enough safety data on booster shots.
“Why would you announce that? Well, we need to have a plan and the plan would involve vaccinating a very large number of people in the United States with booster doses,” Woodcock told WebMD Dr. John Whyte during a virtual interview. posted Thursday online.
“We have to make a plan a little bit before we have all the data and I think, John, that’s what confuses people,” Woodcock said.
“The trends we see in virus resistance in fully immunized people allow us to believe that at some point we will cross that threshold and see more serious hospitalizations and illnesses, and when that happens, we want to be ready,” Woodcock told Whyte.
Of course, White House officials announced that the release of the booster would be subject to the FDA’s green light and the CDC’s signature. Woodcock said Thursday that the data already show some declining immunity among vaccinated people.
On Friday, officials told CNN that there have been talks with the Biden administration about reducing the reinforcement plan because of concerns that the FDA might only be prepared to recommend reinforcements for people who had the Pfizer vaccine. / BioNTech COVID-19. Currently, the agency does not have enough data on Modern to make this recommendation, an official told CNN.
Pfizer / BioNTech applied for FDA approval last month and Moderna said it applied on Wednesday.
Florida sees declining COVID-19 cases
Meanwhile, there was good news from Florida, which broke its own record of COVID-19 cases several times last month. Over the past week, there has been a decline in cases, according to data released Friday by the state health department.
The state averaged 18,463 new daily cases last week, equivalent to 588.1 new cases per 100,000 people every day between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2. This is a drop from the previous week, when the average number of new daily cases was 21,678.
Florida has completely vaccinated just over half of its population, according to CDC data.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and public school districts. DeSantis has been fighting with school officials for weeks because he banned mask warrants from schools, but some enforced them anyway.
Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran sent individual letters to nine districts asking districts to “document how your district meets the Florida Department of Health’s emergency standard” as part of an investigation into non-compliance. He also threatened to withhold state funds if districts did not fully comply with DeSantis ’order to include parental deactivation in school mask mandate policies.
CNN has confirmed that the nine districts have now responded to Corcoran’s August 27 letter.
They argued that they comply with Florida law and consider the mandate a necessity for health and safety. Some of the districts also mentioned last week’s ruling by a Florida judge stating that DeSantis does not have the authority to ban general coverage of mask warrants. DeSantis filed a notice Thursday to appeal the judge’s ruling.