Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Monday he sees promising signs suggesting Covid vaccines are effective in reducing the spread of the virus from person to person, in addition to their well-documented ability to protect against serious illness.
In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, the former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration warned that while initial data appears positive, some uncertainty remains. ‘I think the transfer is declining. The question is: what is its size? ‘ said Gottlieb, a member of Pfizer’s board of directors.
The company’s vaccine, co-developed with German drug manufacturer BioNTech, is one of three vaccines approved by the FDA for emergency use. The other two were created by Moderna and, most recently, Johnson & Johnson, which received limited approval from the U.S. regulator on Saturday.
The FDA granted emergency use approval for the trio of vaccines after individually determining that they were safe and effective in preventing recipients from developing symptomatic Covid disease, especially severe cases and deaths. What is less clear since the US began administering injections of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in December is specific data on how to limit the spread of viruses; it is one reason why doctors urge even vaccinated individuals to continue to take precautions.
For example, in its press release announcing that J & J’s vaccine was approved for emergency use, the FDA said there was no “evidence that the vaccine shows person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2.”
However, Gottlieb said there is reason to be optimistic that the vaccines do just that, even if “the definitive study” shows it has yet to come out. “The evidence gathered is very compelling that there is a reduction in the transfer,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019.
He pointed to two studies conducted in Israel, one of the world’s leading countries for population vaccination, that suggest that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces virus transmission. Gottlieb also said that in its study, J&J found a 74% reduction in participants who developed an asymptomatic infection. J & J’s finding, Gottlieb said, “is a pretty good indication that there is a reduction in transmission.”
“I think most people would agree … people who are vaccinated are less likely to transmit the infection if they become infected themselves,” Gottlieb said, adding that he expects a more definitive answer “within the next few months. two months.”
Earlier Monday on “Squawk Box”, J&J Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky said the company’s initial findings on the occurrence of asymptomatic infection were encouraging and indicate the possibility of making a “big dent” in the Covid pandemic. “But we still need to collect more. We literally expect to collect that in the coming months, as we continue to monitor these patients throughout the study,” he said.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.