Dr. Ashish Jha told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” on Tuesday that US states could make decisions about opening businesses and economies sooner than predicted if enough people are vaccinated.
“My relatively optimistic view is that we don’t have to wait until the end of summer or even the beginning of summer, that by the end of spring, when enough people have been vaccinated, you’re going to really see case numbers.” Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, “ which allows us to open up the economy a lot more, so we don’t have to wait, and we’re sure that the infections – the high levels of infection that we have now, will get better . “
President Joe Biden set a crucial benchmark in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. He promised to provide the states with adequate doses of vaccine for almost every American by the end of the summer. Biden said he will get the government an additional 200 million doses of the vaccine – half from Pfizer and the other half from Moderna. The deal would increase the country’s vaccine stockpile to 600 million shots.
“This is enough vaccine to completely vaccinate 300 [million] Americans by the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall, ”Biden said at the White House on Tuesday.
To vaccinate 300 million people by September 22, the last day of summer, the country will need 600 million doses at the rate of about 2.4 million shots per day. That assumes it is more than the 23 million that have already been stung. Biden said the government will be sending 10 million shots a week to the states for the next three weeks. That’s an increase of almost 20% compared to what is currently being delivered.
Johnson & Johnson expects Results on his Covid vaccine by early next week. According to CNBC’s Meg Tirrell, the company conducted its trial on three continents, including South Africa and Brazil, where highly transferable new variants have been identified. That means the Johnson & Johnson results could reveal important information about how vaccines designed around the original Covid strain work against the new one.
Dr. Bruce Becker, assistant professor of behavioral medicine and social sciences at Brown University’s School of Public Health, told “The News with Shepard Smith” that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one injection and therefore immunity is achieved in 14 to 21 days.
“The J&J vaccine can vaccinate twice as many patients for any given vaccination – twice the coverage and immunity in less than half the time,” Becker said. “That is much more efficient at preventing the spread of Covid.”
Jha told host Shepard Smith that a single dose would help the vaccination effort “a lot,” but questioned the company’s manufacturing capacity.
“I think one of the questions that’s less clear is how much supply of the J&J vaccine we have?” Jha asked. “There are reports that it has not gone so well, production has not gone so well, but regardless, one dose of vaccine is so much easier to administer.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study on Tuesday stating that the spread of Covid in schools is very low with proper precautions. Jha explained that the US can open schools across the country, but “we have to do it” with preventive measures, including masks and effective ventilation.
Becker underlined the importance of preventive measures and even said that non-compliant students should be banned from school.
“Masking works, social distancing works, and the deadly misinformation spread by the previous government and its votes have led to our current dilemma,” Becker said. “Schools can be opened if the rules are followed to the letter.”
Biden said Tuesday “It will be months before we can get the majority of Americans vaccinated” and that “masks, not vaccines” are the best defense against Covid as Americans wait for their vaccine.