Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that vaccinating Americans against Covid is more critical than ever, especially because the new South African variant appears to inhibit antibody drugs.
“The South African variant is very worrying right now because it looks like it may overlook some of our medical countermeasures, particularly antibody drugs,” the former FDA chief told the Trump administration in an interview. on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” Tuesday night. “Right now this strain seems to prevail in South America and Brazil, the two parts of the world, right now, that are in their summer, but they are also experiencing a very dense epidemic and that is worrying.
The South African variant is also known as 501.V2, and in mid-December officials reported that 501.V2 had largely replaced other coronavirus strains as early as November. South Africa has already suffered more than 1.1 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 30,000 deaths, most on the African continent.
Gottlieb cited experimental evidence from Bloom Lab, and explained that 501. V2 appears to have partially escaped previous immunity. It means that some of the antibodies that people produce when they become infected with Covid, as well as antibody medications, may not be as effective.
“The new variant has mutated a portion of the spike protein to which our antibodies bind to try to eliminate the virus itself, so that’s worrisome,” Gottlieb said. “Now, the vaccine can become a support against these variants that is really becoming a fulcrum here in the United States, but we need to speed up the pace of vaccination.”
Director of Production and Supply Distribution for Operation Warp Speed. Lieutenant General Paul Ostrowski told host Shepard Smith on Dec. 3 that anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one before June. However, the projections currently fall short. More than 17 million doses of Covid have been distributed in the states, but only 4.8 million Americans have received their first shot according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gottlieb suggested working faster categories of people with priority, expanding the number of vaccination sites and storing a lower percentage of doses to vaccinate more Americans.
“It’s really a race against time trying to get more vaccine in people’s arms before these new variants become more common here in the United States,” Gottlieb said.
Outreach: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and board member of Pfizer, the start of Tempus genetic testing, and biotech company Illumina. Pfizer has a manufacturing agreement with Gilead to remdesivir. Gottlieb is also co-chair of Norway Cruise Line Holdings′ I Royal Caribbean“Healthy Candle Panel”.