Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that vaccinating Americans against Covid is more important than ever, especially since the new South African variant appears to inhibit antibodies.
“The South African variant is very concerning at the moment as it looks like it could take away some of our medical countermeasures, especially the antibody drugs,” the former FDA chief in the Trump administration said in an interview on CNBC’s. with Shepard Smith “on Tuesday evenings. “Right now, that species appears to be widespread in South America and Brazil, the two parts of the world now, which are in their summer, but also going through a very dense epidemic, which is concerning.
The South African variant is also known as 501.V2, and in mid-December, officials reported that 501.V2 had largely replaced other strains of the coronavirus as early as November. South Africa has already suffered more than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 30,000 deaths, most of them on the African continent.
Gottlieb cited experimental evidence Bloom Lab, and stated 501.V2 appears to partially escape previous immunity. It means that some of the antibodies that people produce when they become infected with Covid, as well as the antibody drugs, may not be as effective.
“The new variant has mutated some of the spike protein that our antibodies bind to, to try and get rid of the virus itself, so this is concerning,” Gottlieb said. “Now the vaccine could become a backstop against these variants that are really gaining ground here in the United States, but we need to speed up the vaccination rate.”
Operation Warp Speed’s Director of Supply, Manufacturing and Distribution Ret. Lieutenant General Paul Ostrowski told host Shepard Smith on Dec. 3 that anyone who wants a vaccine can get one by June. However, the projections are currently falling short. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 17 million doses of Covid have been distributed to states, but only 4.8 million Americans have received their first injection.
Gottlieb suggested working through prioritized categories of people faster, expanding the number of vaccination sites, and stockpiling a smaller percentage of dosages to vaccinate more Americans.
“It’s really a race against time to try and get more vaccine into people’s arms before these new variants become more common here in the United States,” said Gottlieb.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and serves on the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus and biotech company Illumina. Pfizer has a manufacturing agreement with Gilead for remdesivir. Gottlieb is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘ And Royal Caribbean‘s “Healthy Sail Panel.”