The 23rd commissioner of Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb says it’s not going to be like it was in 2017 and 2018. ‘When we did not worry at all about catching a respiratory pathogen,’ he explains. Although he did add ‘I think we’ll worry much less than we’re worrying right now, hopefully’. His bottom line is getting the COVID vaccine will not the set the clock back. The future will not be the same as the past this time round.
It’s Going to Be Like Flying After September 11, 2001
‘We’re going to worry about it, even if we’re vaccinated,’ he told CNBC News January 6, 2021. Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration 2017 to 2019 says that’s because safety precautions will have to continue. And that could mean ongoing temperature screenings in public places.
‘There may also be reluctance to ‘crowd 50 people into a conference room that holds 10,’ he cautioned. Gottlieb went on to explain to CNBC News that reluctance by some people to be vaccinated underpins his beliefs. Moreover, it’s essential to understand vaccines prevent COVID symptoms developing, but don’t stop the infections themselves.
Getting COVID Vaccine Will Not Set the Clock Back: Uncertainty Continues
We don’t yet know the magnitude of the effect of the vaccine in the real world, outside of laboratories. Getting the COVID vaccine will not the set the clock back until we know the practical results in real time. However, Gottlieb believes COVID will be ‘less of a widespread problem’ by the fall.
‘We’re still going to see people who get sick,’ he predicts. ‘There will still be people who die of COVID next winter, but it won’t be epidemic. It will circulate. There will be outbreaks. People who are vaccinated will have substantially reduced risk of having a bad outcome.’ Therefore, we are still only at the end of the beginning.
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