Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Friday urged other vaccinated Americans to be alert to the Covid Delta variant, and told CNBC that its highly transmissible nature cannot be ignored even by people who have protection against it. immunity.
“The original premise around vaccines (which reduce the risk of serious illness and hospitalization) remains intact,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner told Squawk Box. “We still see in the data that the vast majority of people who have problems with Covid are people who are not vaccinated.”
However, Gottlieb, who is on the board of Covid vaccine maker Pfizer, said the risk to vaccinated people is not nil.
“People vaccinated in an environment of this epidemic wave, especially if they are in places where there is a high prevalence of infection, need to take the proper precautions,” he said. “Not only can you be careful in the wind. You can still become a vehicle to spread to your community.”
The seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases in the U.S. is 141,060, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. This is an increase of 14% over a week ago. Cases are up more than 5% in 42 states plus Washington, DC
Gottlieb’s comments came on Friday in response to a question about three vaccinated U.S. senators – Roger Wicker, Angus King and John Hickenlooper – who a day earlier announced they had tested positive for Covid.
“I think it is now recognized that this delta is contagious enough to pierce the protections offered by the vaccine, especially if it was vaccinated some time ago and immunity was reduced, as these senators probably did because they were vaccinated a long time ago. time, ”said Gottlieb, who headed the FDA from 2017 to 2019.
While some scientists disagree with the recent decision by U.S. health officials to authorize Covid booster shots starting next month, Gottlieb said he believes the delta variant’s transmissibility supports the idea of deliver third doses to Americans. Pointing to his role on Pfizer’s board of directors, Gottlieb said he has studied data showing decreased immunity protection over time.
“It’s the case that we vaccinated some of the most vulnerable seniors in our society in the last months of December and January, especially the residences,” Gottlieb said. “I think the most prudent thing would be to get additional immunity in this population, especially considering we’re facing a much more contagious variant.”
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and board member of Pfizer, of the start of Tempus genetic testing, of healthcare technology company Aetion Inc. and the biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.