U.S. authorities are looking “carefully” into the variety of viruses spreading in the UK, top health officials said Sunday, noting that UK travel was not currently banned in the charts. .
The announcement came as a panel of U.S. experts recommended that those aged 75 and over should be vaccinated against the virus, along with 30 million “critical face-to-face workers”, including teachers. , grocery store staff and police.
Speaking of the virus variant, Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser on the government’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine program, told CNN “State of the Union” that U.S. officials do not know if it is present in the country. .
“We are, of course … looking carefully into this,” admits at the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said.
At this point, he said, there does not appear to be any strain of the virus against the available vaccines.
“This particular variation in the UK, I think, is very unlikely to have escaped the immunization of the vaccine,” Slaoui said.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for a warning right now,” agreed Admiral Brett Giroir, the U.S. officer in charge of coronavirus testing, when asked about the new variant of “The Week at ABC. “
Asked if the United States was likely to follow the example of European countries that banned flights from the United Kingdom, Giroir replied: “I really don’t believe we have to do that yet.”
Nearly eight million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are due to be rolled out across the United States on Monday, Slaoui told CNN – two million of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 5.9 million of Moderna’s picture was unveiled on Friday.
Moderna’s first photo was “more likely to be tomorrow morning,” he said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says 2.8 million vaccine doses were dispensed over the past week, while 556,208 doses were administered.
While Vice President Mike Pence has done so publicly, and President Joe Biden is set to do so on Monday, President Donald Trump has so far stated that he can vaccinated anytime soon.
With vaccine suspicion a cause for concern, Giroir urged Trump to do so for his own health – “and also to inspire more confidence among those who follow him so closely.”
More than 316,000 people have been killed by COVID-19 in the United States, with new daily infections regularly exceeding 200,000 and deaths going around 3,000 people every 24 hours.
With vaccines moving there is light at the end of the tunnel – but Slaoui warned that the situation will “get worse” before it gets better, announcing an increase after Thanksgiving Day and the end of year holidays ahead.
Later in the day, a U.S. Disease Control Center advisory panel voted to recommend which organizations should be in the second wave of vaccines after initial doses targeted frontline health care workers and the elderly in nursing homes.
He praised “vital line workers” along with those over 75 years.
The panel estimates that around 30 million people in the workforce are critical, from teachers to postal staff, the police and firefighters.
A follow-up rate would see those between the ages of 65 and 74 along with other critical workers among those receiving doses, according to the recommendations.
The CDC will decide again whether to accept the proposals, and individual states can choose how they can distribute their photographs.