ATLANTA (CNN) – The US is at risk of losing all of its recent gains in the fight against COVID-19 as highly contagious variants take advantage of Americans getting lax with security measures.
“Please hear me clearly: at this level of cases where variants are spreading, we will completely lose the hard-earned ground that we have gained,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
After weeks of declining cases, new infections are on the rise – about 2% more in the past week compared to the week before, Walensky said Monday.
“Likewise, the most recent seven-day average of deaths has also risen by more than 2% … to nearly 2,000 deaths per day.”
Walensky also called on states to relax COVID-19’s security mandates.
“I’m really concerned about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we’ve recommended to protect people from COVID-19,” she said.
“Please remain strong in your beliefs. Continue to wear your well-fitting mask and take the other public health prevention measures that we know work,” Walensky added.
“Ultimately, vaccination is what will get us out of this pandemic. To get there, we need to vaccinate a lot more people.”
A third vaccine will aid mass vaccination
The good news this week: The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will be administered.
“There is a new urgency in it,” said Dr. Eric Rubin, a professor at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
“With new viral variants coming onto the market now, with some likelihood that some of them eventually become somewhat resistant to the protection that vaccines provide, it is very important to get it out quickly.”
About 3.9 million doses of the J&J vaccine will be distributed to states, tribes, territories, pharmacies and community health centers, a senior official from the Biden administration said Sunday evening.
“Those J&J doses will be delivered on Tuesday morning.”
As a single-dose vaccine, “people don’t have to come back for a second dose to be protected,” Walensky said.
“In addition, this vaccine does not need to be frozen and can be stored at refrigerated temperatures. So it is easy to transport and store and provides greater availability in most community settings and mobile sites as the offer increases.”
The other two vaccines being distributed – one from Pfizer-BioNTech and one from Moderna – both have efficacy rates of approximately 95%, with even better protection against severe forms of disease.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown a 72% efficacy rate against mild to severe / critical illness in participants in the US trial. It is more effective against severe illness, with about 85% protection.
Health experts say Americans shouldn’t be put off by J & J’s slightly lower numbers. The vaccine was tested later than the other two vaccines, when infections were already on the rise and new variant strains spread more widely.
The J&J vaccine was also tested in South Africa when the troubling B.1.351 strain was dominant there, but it still provided strong protection against serious diseases.
Don’t be too picky about which vaccine you get
Health experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci have said they would like to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if it was the only one available because all three vaccines distributed in the US are very effective against severe COVID-19.
And if that’s the only vaccine available in your area, you should go and get it as soon as you are able to, said medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen from CNN Monday.
Think of the other vaccines we get. If we go and get the flu vaccine, I don’t think anyone will ask the brand of the flu vaccine (or) which company makes it. ‘
In addition, “for the foreseeable future, people will not be given a choice if supply is a limiting factor,” she said.
“Right now, the key is to get some form of immunity. Get the vaccine that’s available to you first. You can always get another vaccine or a booster shot later if the delivery isn’t the problem. is. “
New variants keep spreading
March will be a very important chapter in this pandemic. The CDC has predicted that the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant first discovered in the UK will become the dominant strain in the US this month.
More than 2,460 infections with variant strains have been reported, according to CDC data. The vast majority of those cases – at least 2,400 – involve the highly contagious B.1.1.7 strain.
Those counts are likely much lower than the actual number of people infected by variants. The numbers represent only those variant cases found by genomic sequencing, the CDC said.
Right now, the key is to get some form of immunity. Get the vaccine that is first available to you. You can always get another vaccine or a booster shot later if delivery is not due.
–CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen
The US has lagged behind dozens of other countries in the number of cases tested for variants, but the CDC said it is working to scale those efforts.
Can vaccines ward off the new variants?
Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are trying to make sure their vaccines are ahead of the variants.
The B.1.351 strain first discovered in South Africa has the most troubling effects on vaccines’ ability to produce an immune response, said Dr. Heather Scobie at the CDC’s Advisory Commission on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting on Monday.
She also said two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine protect people better than just one dose.
“Five studies have shown that delaying the second mRNA dose may make some people less protected against the SARS-Cov-2 variants,” Scobie told the ACIP meeting.
The Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines are mRNA vaccines.
“All studies showed improved neutralization of B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 after the second dose of vaccine,” she said. “In a few studies, people who recovered from COVID-19 and received a single dose of vaccine had moderate protection against B.1.351.”
Johnson & Johnson is working on a booster to help its COVID-19 vaccine deal with new strains of coronavirus variants, CEO Alex Gorsky said Monday.
“While we are encouraged and have faith in the current vaccine we have, you should always prepare for the future and frankly for the unknown,” said Gorsky.
Last week, Moderna said it designed a booster shot to help prevent the B.1.351 strain, which worries scientists because it has a mutation that could affect vaccine efficacy.
That shot would serve as a booster for people who have already been vaccinated and as a primary vaccine for people who have not had and have not yet been vaccinated.
Moderna is also testing a third, lower dose of its current vaccine in subjects to see if that would protect against troubling variants.
Pfizer and BioNTech said last week they have started testing how well a third dose of their authorized vaccine stacks up against new variants.
On Monday, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said it will take another six to eight weeks to get real-world data showing how effective the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is against the B.1.351 variant.
Many more require a vaccine before the herd gains immunity
While the news of the third COVID-19 vaccine is worth it, the US is still a long way from herd immunity. Then enough people are protected against a virus that it cannot spread through the population.
According to CDC data available Monday, about 15.3% of the US population has received at least one injection of their two-dose moderna or Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
About 7.7% of Americans are fully vaccinated with both doses.
Vaccines will be tested in children
Now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective in adults, the company will begin studies with children, said Dr. Macaya Douoguih, chief of clinical development and medical affairs at Janssen, J & J’s vaccine division.
“We will conduct several immunogenicity and safety studies in children ages 17 to neonates,” Douoguih told a CDC advisory committee on Sunday.
“We hope that the study in adolescents starts next week. We also expect a study in pregnant women in the second and third trimester by the end of March / early April,” said Douoguih.
Johnson & Johnson also plans to start a study in immunocompromised people in the third quarter of this year, Douoguih said.
The FDA approval for emergency use for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently intended for use in adults 18 years and older.
The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is approved for people 16 years of age and older, and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is approved for people 18 years of age and older.
Both Moderna and Pfizer have started enrolling children in COVID-19 vaccine studies.
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