Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called on the public to get vaccinated a soon as the vaccine is available. He asked the U.S. people to have the right disposition and “be part of the solution.”
“Say, ‘I’m not going to be one of the people that’s going to be a steppingstone for the virus to go to somebody else. I’m going to be a dead end to the virus,'” Fauci told Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Monday.
Vaccine candidates from Pfizer and Moderna are both awaiting emergency use authorizations (EUA). Executive Director of the Association of Immunization Managers Claire Hannan told CNN Monday States have until Friday to request the number of doses for Pfizer’s vaccine, Executive Director of the Association of Immunization Managers Claire Hannan told CNN Monday.
Once the US Food and Drug Administration grants EUAs and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes recommendations on which groups will get vaccinated first, they will be ready to be shipped out, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser, said Monday. And that very day or the next, the first immunizations can be administered, he said.
However, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that even after vaccines start to be distributed in December, there will not be enough for the wider public to be immunized until April or May of 2021. Until then, the US is still contending with an unprecedented spike, he said.
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As cases increase over the holiday season, so have hospitalizations. This situation has put health care systems under stress. And they might be even more strained this time around because researchers are now seeing people affected by the virus even after they no longer show symptoms, Fauci said.
Long haulers
Some patients, called “long haulers,” experience lingering symptoms for months. Others see residual and perhaps indefinite organ system dysfunction, Anthony Fauci said. “The idea that you get infected, you either get no symptoms or you die, and if you don’t die, you’re OK. I think that’s really a misperception,” he added.