Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb questioned President Joe Biden’s projection that COVID-19 vaccinations could allow small gatherings by Independence Day, saying that Americans won’t be waiting for the July 4 holiday.
''I think the majority of Americans are going to be getting together long before July,'' Gottlieb, Trump’s FDA chief from 2017 to 2019, said on CNBC on Friday. ''I think we should be giving public health advice that is in line with where people are.
''And when people feel the risk declining because they’ve been vaccinated, because they see infection levels going down in many parts of the country, they’re going to be willing to take more risk because they sense that their vulnerability is declining. And you know what? They’re right.''
Gottlieb’s comments come less than a day after Biden, in a nationally televised address, said he will order all states to make COVID-19 vaccines available to all adults by May 1, something, he implied, that would allow the country to resume some normalcy by mid-summer.
Gottlieb, who now serves on the board of Pfizer — one of three U.S. approved COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers — said the American public was ahead of Biden.
''People are going to be out this summer and they’re going to be out well before July,'' he said.
The seven-day moving average of new daily reported infections from COVID-19 fell to 56,927, the lowest levels since Oct. 17, according to worldometers.info, and down from a peak of 254,956 on Jan. 12.
The seven-day moving average of deaths has dropped to 1,424, its lowest level since Nov. 19 and down from its peak of 3,463 on Jan. 26.
Texas and Mississippi ended their mask mandate on Wednesday, the latest moves by states to ease restrictions ostensibly imposed to stem and/or mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week issued new guidance that said fully vaccinated people can gather indoors safely with other fully vaccinated individuals — and certain unvaccinated individuals — without masks or having to maintain a six-foot separation.
Gottlieb attributed the falling infection rates to vaccinations, which the CDC said Friday had reached more than 100,000 million in the U.S. — just under a third of the population — and those who have natural immunity from already having been infected.
Combined, he said, about half of the country's population likely had some form of immunity.
''At that level, you’re not going to get as rapid transfer of the infections. It’s not quite herd immunity, but you’re going to get immunity in the population,'' Gottlieb said.
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