Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientific advisor, said Sunday it could take months for researchers to know for sure whether transmission of COVID-19 is possible from a person who received the vaccine.
On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan asked Slaoui when scientists will know if such a transfer is possible, a key factor in determining when the US will develop herd immunity to the virus.
“Do you have a date on which you know whether you can still give the virus to others after vaccination?” Brennan asked.
“No,” replied Slaoui. “Those studies will be based, frankly, on observational data from the population. I don’t think we’ll have any data until late spring.”
Is doing #OperationWarpSpeed keep a timeline as soon as you are vaccinated if you can still give #coronavirus to others?
Slaoui explains @margbrennan “no” with no data projected on such a timeline until late spring pic.twitter.com/0Ibkk4YWl1
– Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 3, 2021
He also addressed reports of delays in vaccination rollout in the US and pointed to Surgeon General Jerome Adams
Jerome Adams Sunday Shows Preview: Senate Candidates Brace for Georgia Run-Offs; Government Continues Rollout of Coronavirus Vaccine on Sunday Shows – Trump’s COVID-19 Relief Law Opposition Dominates Surgeon General on Medical Racism: ‘We Must Recognize These Things’ MORE in a separate interview on Sunday, did a figure indicating that 1.5 million Americans have received vaccines in the past 72 hours.
“Our assumption is that there is a plan to vaccinate,” Slaoui said of the state’s efforts to distribute the vaccine. “We are here to help with any specific request. We will do our best, as we have for the past eight months, to ensure that these vaccines do indeed get into people’s arms.”
Top federal officials have defended the U.S. rollout of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines in recent days, amid reports of a significant gap between the number of vaccines distributed to states, totaling more than 14 million, and the number of Americans who have actually been vaccinated. Just over 4 million doses have been administered in the US
“Somewhere there is a delay in how the numbers are being calculated, but it is certainly a number smaller than the 14 million doses already available to us,” Slaoui said last week. “We agree that number is lower than we hoped.”