Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Thursday warned coronavirus vaccine recipients not to drop guards immediately, and told CNBC they should adhere to public health measures, such as putting on masks.
The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the advice is particularly important for American seniors who are at increased risk of death or serious illness from Covid-19.
“I think for an elderly person who is vulnerable to this virus, no doubt … wait a period of time after the second shot until you are likely to have complete protective immunity,” Gottlieb told Squawk Box. “I don’t think people should feel completely safe after the first shot.”
The two Covid vaccines that have received FDA emergency use authorization require two doses. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech developed one of the vaccines, while Moderna manufactures the other. Gottlieb is on the board of Pfizer.
Approximately 10.3 million Americans have received their initial shot of Covid as of Wednesday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 29.4 million doses have been distributed.
Vaccination hesitation occurs as the nation continues to see high levels of coronavirus infection and more deaths from Covid-19. According to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the average of seven days of new cases a day in the country is 245,306. An average of 3,360 Americans have died from Covid-19 a day in the past week, the second highest count recorded.
Vaccine recipients have yet to take public health precautions because the U.S. outbreak remains so significant and “the infection is everywhere,” Gottlieb said. “If you are a vulnerable person, even if you have had the second shot and believe you have full protective immunity against the vaccine, it is still very prudent to continue wearing a mask and take precautions.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to hibernate and have to avoid seeing the family,” added Gottlieb, who headed the FDA to the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. “Maybe you can lean forward on this. sense but wear a mask. be careful in these interactions, because in an environment with a high prevalence you are still at risk “.
As more Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19, Gottlieb said it should reduce overall infection rates in the U.S. and significantly reduce the intensity of the epidemic. At this point, he said it would make more sense to “relax” some precautions.
“We hope this is summer, spring, if these new variants are not consolidated here in the United States and change our trajectory,” he said, referring to the coronavirus strains that were initially found in the United Kingdom and South- africa. it is believed to be more transmissible.
Ohio researchers said Wednesday they had discovered two new variants that probably originated in the U.S.
Last week, Gottlieb warned Americans that it is unlikely to return to pre-pandemic life by 2021. For example, he told CNBC that public places could require the temperature to be taken before entry.
“I think things will be different, just like they will be different when you walk through an airport now after 9/11,” he said last week. “I don’t think masks will be mandatory next fall and winter if we manage to increase the vaccination rate and if these new variants disappear or don’t prevail. But I think a lot of people will want to wear masks, and that’s fine.”
Outreach: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and a member of Pfizer’s genetic testing start-up boards Tempus and biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.