"We know Covid is really seasonal, so when the next winter rolls around, we need to have a much higher level of protection to stop Covid in its tracks than we are likely to achieve,"
Seasonal? Winter? This has been going on a year, spring, summer, fall, winter. How can it be called seasonal?
Shouldn't an "expert" like "Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington" know it's not seasonal?
Covid-19 vaccines may prevent infection and not just symptoms, study suggests
(CNN)Health experts have said that data so far has shown that Covid-19 vaccines prevent symptoms of the virus -- but a new study suggests that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines may also prevent infections.
A team at the Mayo Clinic health system looked at more than 31,000 people across four states who had received at least one dose of either vaccine -- and found their vaccines were upwards of 80% effective in preventing infection 36 days after the first dose.
Vaccine efficacy was 75% 15 days after the first dose, and appeared 89% effective from 36 days after the second dose, according to the research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Despite a backlog in inoculations due to harsh winter weather that has gripped much of the US, officials have been pressing to vaccinate Americans before what appear to be more transmissible variants, which they fear could reverse the progress in terms of lowering cases and hospitalizations.
More than 59 million vaccine doses have so far been administered in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said Friday that the US is unlikely to achieve herd immunity for the virus before the winter.
"We know Covid is really seasonal, so when the next winter rolls around, we need to have a much higher level of protection to stop Covid in its tracks than we are likely to achieve," he said.
Herd immunity doesn't take effect until 80% or more of the population has immunity, either through infection or vaccination. And the new variants may complicate the picture, Murray said. If people can be reinfected with the new variants, the pandemic may take off again.
Though officials hope to have vaccines widely distributed by the end of the summer, President Biden said Friday that issues like weather, mutating strains and manufacturing delays make it hard to nail down a timeline.
"I believe we're on the road, I promise you. I know we'll run into bumps. It's not going to be easy here to the end, but we're going to beat this. We're going to beat this," he said while visiting a Pfizer facility in Michigan.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/02/20/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html
Seasonal? Winter? This has been going on a year, spring, summer, fall, winter. How can it be called seasonal?
Shouldn't an "expert" like "Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington" know it's not seasonal?
Covid-19 vaccines may prevent infection and not just symptoms, study suggests
(CNN)Health experts have said that data so far has shown that Covid-19 vaccines prevent symptoms of the virus -- but a new study suggests that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines may also prevent infections.
A team at the Mayo Clinic health system looked at more than 31,000 people across four states who had received at least one dose of either vaccine -- and found their vaccines were upwards of 80% effective in preventing infection 36 days after the first dose.
Vaccine efficacy was 75% 15 days after the first dose, and appeared 89% effective from 36 days after the second dose, according to the research, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Despite a backlog in inoculations due to harsh winter weather that has gripped much of the US, officials have been pressing to vaccinate Americans before what appear to be more transmissible variants, which they fear could reverse the progress in terms of lowering cases and hospitalizations.
More than 59 million vaccine doses have so far been administered in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said Friday that the US is unlikely to achieve herd immunity for the virus before the winter.
"We know Covid is really seasonal, so when the next winter rolls around, we need to have a much higher level of protection to stop Covid in its tracks than we are likely to achieve," he said.
Herd immunity doesn't take effect until 80% or more of the population has immunity, either through infection or vaccination. And the new variants may complicate the picture, Murray said. If people can be reinfected with the new variants, the pandemic may take off again.
Though officials hope to have vaccines widely distributed by the end of the summer, President Biden said Friday that issues like weather, mutating strains and manufacturing delays make it hard to nail down a timeline.
"I believe we're on the road, I promise you. I know we'll run into bumps. It's not going to be easy here to the end, but we're going to beat this. We're going to beat this," he said while visiting a Pfizer facility in Michigan.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/02/20/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html
