LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. chief infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that America expects to achieve sufficient COVID-19 immunity through vaccines to regain “some normal routine”. autumn 2021, despite early problems in vaccine distribution.
Fauci made his remarks at an online discussion about the pandemic with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who initially announced the discovery of a more contagious coronavirus variable first discovered in Britain in the UK. state, a day after the first known case of the U.S. recorded Colorado.
Newsom reported that coronavirus variant B.1.1.7 was tested earlier in the day in patients in Southern California. He gave no further details. But the California Department of Public Health said in a later statement that the individual, a patient in San Diego County, does not have a known travel history suggesting the variant is spreading within the community.
Fauci said it was “not surprising”, saying that more and more cases would arise across the country and that the brutal nature of these viruses is normal.
“This particular mutation seems to make the virus better at being transmitted from one person to another,” he said. However, individuals with earlier strains of SARS-CoV-2 are unlikely to “get re-disinfected with this,” meaning that any previously acquired immunity is “immune to the disease. This is a special kind, ”said Fauci.
He also confirmed that the so-called RA variant is not believed to be exacerbated in the disease it causes, and that recently approved COVID-19 vaccines will be just as effective against it and is against previously known viral strains.
The same is believed to be true for a second new variant, also more contagious than first reported in South Africa, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
However, the emergence of a more susceptible variant may result in faster immunization of the vaccine.
President Joe Biden warned Tuesday that it could take years for most Americans to spend getting an initial vaccine release rate that has gone beyond the Trump administration’s promises. He called on Congress to agree more funding for the effort.
‘WE’RE GOING FOR IT
Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday that he was confident that wisdom would be overcome early in the release of the vaccine.
“As we get into January, the feeling is that we’re going to get a move to be able to catch it,” he told Newsom, adding that he expected vaccines. widely available to the public on request, by April.
Assuming that the extensive vaccination campaign continues as it should through May, June and July, “By the time we reach early fall, we will have adequate herd protection to get back to a strong level of regularity – schools, theaters, sporting events, restaurants, ”said Fauci.
Nevertheless, the fight is expected in a more infectious form of the virus as the pandemic has been out of control across much of the United States for weeks. California, the most populous state with 40 million, has become the latest flashpoint, as hospitals in and around Los Angeles report that intensive care units are filled to capacity.
Medical experts say the pandemic is getting worse in recent weeks when the weather got colder and many Americans failed to comply with public health warnings to avoid social gatherings and unnecessary travel over the late holiday season. of the year.
The result has been a shocking rise in diseases and hospitals that have put pressure on health care systems, as the U.S. death tax continues to rise, surpassing 338,000 lives lost nationwide so far.
In addition to disrupting America ‘s daily social life, the pandemic has devastated the economy, depriving millions of workers at unseen numbers since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The first U.S. case of the UK variable was announced by Colorado Governor Jared Police on Tuesday. At a press conference on Wednesday, Police described the infected patient as a National Guard soldier in his 20s who was assigned to help deal with the COVID uprising at a nursing home in Simla , Colorado, on the outskirts of the Denver metropolitan area.
The patient has no travel history, is lonely and recovers at home, said Dr. Henry Walke, incident manager for the CDC’s COVID response, which is indicative of the spread of the transformer within the United States.
The director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment told reporters that a second member of the National Guard may have contracted the UK variety, although final laboratory confirmation was still awaited.
The new variant has been found in several European countries, as well as Canada, Australia, India, South Korea and Japan, among others.
The U.S. government on Monday began urging all British national travelers – including U.S. citizens – to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their arrival. go away.
The government could extend coronavirus testing requirements for international air travelers outside Britain as early as next week, sources who received information about the case told Reuters on Wednesday.
Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional commentary by Jonathan Allen in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Keith Coffman in Denver and David Shepardson in Washington; Edited by Leslie Adler and Grant McCool