Fall Season In The US 'Will Depend Upon The Success of our Vaccination Program,' Asst Sec'y of Health Says
Increased vaccinations now will cut down on future variants, Dr Levine says
COVID-19 cases are back on the rise across the United States over the summer months, largely due to those Americans who have refused thus far to get vaccinated against the disease.
How the fall season progresses “will depend upon the success of our vaccination program,” said Dr Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“And we are seeing an increase in the number of people rolling up their sleeves, and getting vaccinated,” she said during a video streaming interview with The Washington Post. “But, as we've been talking about, this Delta variant is extremely dangerous. It is significantly more contagious — more transmissible — than the previous forms of the virus. And there is evidence that it can lead to quicker onset of disease, and more-severe disease.
“So I think that the prospects for the fall could be very challenging,” Dr Levine added. “However, I think that if we are able to continue to ramp up our vaccination program, that's the most important way to protect people in the fall.”
The Biden administration, starting at the White House, has in more-recent weeks begun more directly trying to combat the misinformation — and outright disinformation — usually from the political right, which often is what causes Americans to refuse the vaccine.
This misinformation is often disseminated via social media providers, like Facebook, and right-wing television, such as Fox News.
President Biden also last week just asked state and local governments to use some of their funds from the American Rescue Plan economic package which passed earlier this year in order to offer inducements of $100 to any American who gets vaccinated.
Dr Levine was asked about the potential for the virus to be “a few mutations away from escaping vaccines.”
“Whenever the virus has significant immunity spread in transmission — and there are lots of cases — then you can see the development of variants. It has to do with how the virus evolved,” Dr Levine replied. “So the way to actually decrease the amount of variants that we would see, would be to increase our vaccine program in the United States, and increase the vaccination programs across the world.
“I think that it should inform people about the importance of getting vaccinated now,” she added. “We have a tremendous safety record with these vaccines. Almost 350 million doses of the vaccines have been given in the United States, and countless millions more across the [globe].
“They have a remarkable safety profile, and we know that they are effective against the Delta variant in terms of people getting very sick, in terms of people getting hospitalized and so forth. So that's the best way to protect against the development of these variants.”
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