“Within a year of being identified … we will have a new virus, a vaccine that can be administered to people, it’s safe and effective, I never imagined it would give us hope,” said Dr. Richard Besser, a former center of disease control and prevention centers Director. “In the dark days of these epidemics, we finally have a ray of hope.”
“We had tears in our eyes because the vaccine came here,” said CEO Mason von Howelling.
All 50 states, including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, received vaccine levels on Monday. More exports are expected later in the week, Operation Warp Speed CEO Gustav Berna said Monday, and vaccinations are also expected to begin in nursing homes.
“This vaccine, no matter how wonderful, is not going to change the path we are experiencing this winter,” Besser told CNN. “This is not going to change what we have to do; we are not going to change the need to wash our hands wearing masks and social distance.”
Overcoming vaccine reluctance
“For the past several weeks to months I have had nothing in my heart other than this problem,” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told CNN. “I’m been working with Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson so that people can understand that they are safe to make sure we get the number of minorities in these vaccine trials.”
With the leaders of faiths and leaders of minority communities, including fraternal organizations and sororities, “influencers can use their megaphones to share relevant information with the public because vaccine reluctance is one of the biggest social injustices out there,” Adams said. . “
“Every year tens of thousands of black and brown people die because they are distrustful of this system,” Adams added. “In many cases, exactly, but because they do not get the facts that will help restore their confidence in the system.”
“I understand the distrust among the minority community,” he said. “I didn’t ask people to do anything that I wouldn’t do, so I was happy to come forward as one of the chiefs.”
“I didn’t know I was going to make history, that’s why I did it. I wanted to do this to encourage those who are skeptical about getting vaccinated and believing in science,” Lindsay added.
The beginning of the end … but not the end
The effects of the vaccines will not come overnight, Dr. Anthony Fucci said Monday.
“It’s not like turning a light switch on and off,” he said during a virtual health event for strategic and international research. “I do not believe we will throw away the masks and forget about the physical division in the church systems for a while, perhaps until we arrive in late autumn or early next winter.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azhar said Monday that the general public could begin vaccinating between February and March – earlier than other experts had estimated.
“It’s really, again, up to the governors of our country, but with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine, as I said, we will have 100 (million) weapons by the end of February,” he told NBC on Monday.
“If the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca vaccine is approved in January, when their data comes in, we will have significant additional products,” Azhar added. “In late February, by March, I think you’ll start to see something like a flu vaccine campaign – people are going to their Croger, their CVS or Walkreens, Walmart.”
Returning to normal, officials say, depends on how quickly vaccinations take place – and how many Americans are vaccinated. Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, says that 70% to 80% of the American population must be immune before the virus “goes away.”
“We think we can get all the 330 million Americans interested in getting this vaccine there by June or so,” Collins told NBC on Sunday. “But if only half of them do that, it could go on and on.”
Tough months are ahead
Meanwhile, the United States is preparing to face the dark days of the epidemic. In California, the government’s Gavin Newsom said that although vaccines give hope for a moment, “we are at the worst moment of this epidemic.”
By the fourth day the government had added more than 30,000 new Govt-19 cases and hospital admissions and ICU admissions were the highest of all time.
Authorities say more than 4,200 people have been hospitalized with Covit-19, 21% of whom are in the ICU.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed to tighter restrictions in the coming weeks, saying the city is on a “very complicated” path, given the number of sick people and the number of people we lose. .. and apparently the impact on hospitals, the ability to treat people. “
“We need to start planning big actions now,” he said Monday. “I think it’s normal time to do it as soon as Christmas is over.”
“We will monitor and evaluate our current situation day by day … (we) will be under current restrictions, with the goal of achieving next month.”
“But I have to be clear,” the governor added. “If the authorities and experts agree that our tendencies are beyond our ability to respond, I will be compelled to come back to all of you with drastic measures.”
CNN’s Andy Rose, Cherie Mosberg, Shelby Lynn Erdman and Omar Jimenez contributed to the report.
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