“We saw what is happening in other countries that have actually had the coronavirus under relatively good control, then these variants took over and they had an explosive spread of the virus and then overwhelmed hospitals,” said emergency care physician Dr. .
“If there is something more contagious among us, if we previously thought it was relatively safe to go to the grocery store, we are more likely to contract coronavirus from those day-to-day activities,” she said.
“Wearing an even better mask, reducing the number of times we have to run errands or in overcrowded indoor environments will all be helpful,” added Wen.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC on Monday that wearing two masks is likely to be more effective in stopping the spread of the virus.
“If you have physical coverage with one layer, then you put another layer on it, it just makes sense that it would probably be more effective,” he said.
Moderna says the vaccine protects against some variants
The good news, Fauci told CNN on Monday in a separate interview, is that current Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be effective against the new variants.
“The sobering news,” he added, “(is) as you get more and more replication, you can get more and more evolution of mutants, which means you always have to be one step ahead of it.”
But as Covid-19 evolves, it will be important to prove “time and again” that vaccines protect against new strains, said Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge during a panel Monday.
“Until we completely suppress and control this species, and people are broadly vaccinated or HIV positive and protected against it, it will be an ongoing battle for years to come,” he said.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is currently being tested in South Africa, the US and Brazil, and those results could provide insight into how well it works against emerging variants, one of the developers said. The company has said it could share its Phase 3 vaccine trial data as early as this week.
“When we see the efficacy results … it not only gives us insight into whether or not this candidate vaccine is effective, but it also gives us insight into whether the variants circulating in South Africa may or may not be a problem for vaccines, ”Dr. Dan Barouch, a professor at Harvard Medical School, told CNN.
6% of the US population has received a Covid-19 injection
A White House official told CNN that the government’s official goal remains to get 100 million shots in the president’s first 100 days.
Across the country, health leaders and government officials have been working to improve their vaccination strategies and increase gunshots.
CVS will begin offering on-site vaccinations in February in more than 270 locations in 11 states, said Dr. David Fairchild, associate chief medical officer at CVS Health, Monday.
“We are absolutely prepared and want to play a big role in helping to spread the vaccine,” he added. “Our internal goal is to have a capacity to take 25 million shots per month or more.”
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice on Monday introduced a new online pre-registration system that allows residents to pre-register to receive a vaccine. Since the system’s launch Monday morning, more than 32,000 residents had scheduled a vaccination appointment, the governor said. This works in addition to an existing hotline that residents can call and register in advance.
Illinois announced it would enter the next phase of vaccinations on Monday and open guidelines for people over 65 and front-line workers, including teachers, first responders and grocers. The governor added that as more doses become available, more massive vaccination sites will be opened
Chicago will target 15 “high-needs communities based on the city’s COVID vulnerability index,” the mayor’s office said in a press release. The initiative will include “strike teams” who will reach “those who may not be connected to more traditional vaccine delivery channels,” he said.
“Two-thirds of our city is made up of people of color,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a newsletter. “Still, we are woefully behind the number of people of color vaccinated today.”
Lightfoot said of the nearly 108,000 residents who received their first dose of vaccine, only 17% are Latino and about 15% Black.
The offer is still limited
But many states are still struggling with supplies.
Kentucky has used about 88% of their first doses so far, Governor Andy Beshear said Monday, calling on the federal government to send more supplies.
Beshear told reporters that the state hit an all-time high with more than 82,500 doses administered last week, but stressed that the state could be in the 250,000 weekly doses range if the supply was there.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis also renewed a call for more vaccines as the state continues to deplete the federal government’s allocated supply.
“I continue to urge our federal partners and the new Biden administration in Washington to immediately accelerate the distribution of vaccines,” Polis said in a statement. “Colorado is poised to immediately use three to four times as many vaccines as we currently get each week.”
The state has delivered more than 458,400 shots so far, of which more than 82,600 are second doses.
“The sooner Colorado gets more vaccines, the sooner we can get them in arms, and the faster we can help our small businesses and economy become stronger,” the governor said. “We are ready and welcome renewed federal assistance to get the job done.”
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Taylor Romine, Gisela Crespo, Omar Jimenez, Amanda Sealy, Andrea Diaz, Leslie Perrot, Maggie Fox and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.