CDC guidelines for vaccinated people are ‘too shy’ and ‘far too cautious’

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Another interesting point of disagreement between a prominent, camera-friendly medical authority and Joe Biden’s new and improved CDC. Former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb made a splash last week when he warned the CDC not to be too cautious about their guidance for vaccinated people. Those who have been immunized * will * go out and do things, he reminded them, starting with seeing his grandchildren. The CDC is better at acknowledging this and advising them on how to do the things they want to do more safely than advising them not to do those things at all, which is an invitation for the public to completely ignore the guidelines.

The CDC seemed to take Gottlieb’s advice to heart with today’s new recommendations – somewhat. It is okay to meet low-risk unvaccinated people, such as grandchildren, as long as you limit the gathering to a single household, the agency said. What about public spaces like restaurants? And do you travel after a year of being buried? Still, finger down, for now.

Dr. Leana Wen, one of CNN’s best-known medical analysts, can’t help but offer.

TV medical experts do not like to have daylight between their recommendations and the CDC during a pandemic, knowing that consistent messaging is important to persuade the public to adopt a certain behavior. This is doubly true with a left-wing administration that has promised to “restore science” in the White House and not let politics shape its public health message – unless teachers’ unions demand it, of course. For Gottlieb and now Wen to reduce the CDC in this way, he must feel strongly that the agency is too small to encourage people to get vaccinated. The CDC is missing a major opportunity to link vaccination status to reopening. Coming out with such limited guidance, they lack the window to influence state and national policy, ”Wen explained in an email to the AP today. He seems to want more access to public spaces for vaccinated people. “The hesitation of the vaccine will be the main obstacle to the herd’s immunity. We need to address this by being clear about the freedoms that people will get after vaccination, “she said posted on Twitter yesterday.

Gottlieb mentioned a similar point during his appearance on “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning:

“We cannot be so far behind the public’s aspirations that the orientation itself is ignored,” he said. “I think people understand, rightly, that the general vulnerability is decreasing at the moment, because you see more and more people getting vaccinated, because we have a higher immunity at the population level against this virus and the previous infection. So people will want to start doing things. They will want to start coming out more. And we need to keep that in mind when it comes to how we provide guidance. ”

A thought I had yesterday: Since we know the percentages of the population of each state that received the first and second dose, why not link restrictions such as capacity levels for enterprises and the status of the mask mandate to the reference values ​​of vaccination? For example, once 25 percent have obtained both photos, companies across the state are allowed to open at a capacity of 50 percent, no matter what their local authorities say. At 40% vaccinated, companies move to a capacity of 75%. At 60%, all capacity limits are raised and the mask’s mandate is canceled. It is not clear to me whether Wen has something similar in mind or whether the CDC simply wants to encourage vaccinated people to resume public activities, such as the indoor restaurant and the theater. It would be quite easy for the agency to issue guidelines recommending those who have been immunized feel free to return to public spaces, while those who are still waiting their turn should avoid them. This would strongly stimulate vaccination among those affected. But some people who are not vaccinated and extremely neutral about the risks would exploit the new rule to return to public spaces, falsely claiming that they were shot, and some infections would happen this way. There must be a way to limit public spaces to vaccinations, even if it is just to ask for their card (easy to fake) showing that they have received both doses.

It seems that we are heading towards a “reference” system soon, on this segment from CNN that was broadcast this afternoon. Watch Sanjay Gupta at 2:15 here, reporting that new guidance is expected to come regularly from the CDC as vaccination rates increase. For example, once each state has reached, say, 20 percent of the population receiving the second dose, the agency can re-approve travel for vaccinated people. They * will * give people behavioral reasons to get the pictures, in other words, which is good. They will do this only on a sliding scale, related to the total number of vaccinations, knowing that the more people are immunized, the greater the risk of increased social activity for everyone.

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