Dr. Kavita Patel predicted that July 4th will mark “a turning point or turning point” in the fight against Covid for the United States.
“If we can achieve this herd immunity … we will be able to suppress the activity of this virus to the levels we see in the influenza virus,” Patel told CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith on Thursday evening. “We can wholeheartedly expect to move from a pandemic and some sort of global emergency to an endemic where this is only a regular part of our dealings,” added the former Obama administration adviser.
While her prediction was in line with President Joe Biden’s goal of bringing the nation to a semblance of normalcy by Independence Day, she noted that regular boosters or Covid vaccines will likely be necessary in the future, especially if communicable variants become common spread.
Pfizer released new data from Israel indicating its two-shot vaccine is 97% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid cases and 94% effective against asymptomatic cases. The analysis also showed a high level of protection against the highly transferable variant B.1.1.7 from Great Britain, which has also spread in the USA
By Friday morning, 1 in 10 Americans had been fully vaccinated – and in total, more than 98 million doses had been administered nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency also reported that 62% of Americans 65 and older received at least one dose, and nearly a third of them were fully vaccinated.
Patel believes the Food and Drug Administration will “soon” fully approve Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Moderna vaccines, especially as more data accumulates. All there were released in the US for emergencies.
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