Dr. Scott Gottlieb explained on Monday how he is trying to keep his three young daughters safe from coronavirus, allowing them to continue visiting their friends before their age groups can be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Gottlieb detailed his approach to the “Squawk Box” after co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked the former FDA chief his thoughts on indoor play data for children if their parents are fully vaccinated.
“I reintroduce activities with my children, but I do it, I hope, in a prudent way, in which I still keep the social network somewhat defined. I remember how many people interact and who they interact with, “said Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration under the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. He is now on the board of Pfizer, which makes one of the three vaccines. Covid approved for emergency use in the US
“For example, many of their games were with children in their class,” Gottlieb said. “Why? Because this is their social bridge. They are already exposed to that social bridge and so we try to keep the interactions within that defined bridge.”
None of the vaccines used in the United States have yet been approved for young children.
Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine and Moderna two-dose vaccine received limited clearance for people 18 years of age and older. In contrast, the FDA has allowed the Pfizer two-shot vaccine to be given to people over the age of 16.
All three drug manufacturers are testing the vaccine in children, although clinical trials are at different stages and examine different age groups.
Pfizer said Wednesday that its vaccine was 100% effective in teens between the ages of 12 and 15, and Gottlieb told CNBC at the time that he hoped the FDA could be eliminated in an emergency for that cohort of children by the fall. upon resumption of school.
Experts say vaccinating children is necessary for the US to get so-called herd immunity, which is the point where enough people in a population have antibodies to fight the virus from previous vaccines or infections and therefore reduce its sudden spread.
“Children are clearly less vulnerable to infection, but less vulnerable does not mean they are not vulnerable and we see that some children get coronavirus,” Gottlieb said.
Nowadays, as more adults get vaccinated and feel comfortable resuming activities they avoided earlier during the pandemic – such as traveling, eating indoors, and meeting friends and family – some wonder how they need to see the risk to their children.
“Vaccinated parents reduce the risk of children getting the infection … because many of the infections we see when following contacts are actually children who become infected from their parents, not children who become infected at school,” Gottlieb said. “If you interact with families in which adults have been vaccinated, children are less likely to get the infection.”
However, Gottlieb stressed that even Americans who have been vaccinated should still be aware that the pandemic, which has been going on for more than a year, is not over yet. For example, he said, a person who received a Covid shot should still wear a mask around a person at risk who has not been vaccinated.
“Vaccinated people may feel that they are much less likely to get seriously ill,” he said. “They are less likely to receive the infection and transmit the samples less … But if you are around vulnerable people, there is still the possibility, even if you are vaccinated, to be asymptotic and eliminate the virus and transmit the virus to that vulnerable person. “
– CNBC Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a board member of Pfizer, the Tempus genetic testing start-up, medical technology company Aetion Inc. and the biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings‘ and Royal Caribbean“The panel with healthy sails”.