April 11 (UPI) – Dr Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and current member of the Pfizer board, said on Sunday that supply of vaccines in the United States would soon exceed demand.
Gottlieb told CBS News’ Make the nation that the United States should abide by its plan to deliver doses to states based on population, as supply is expected to exceed demand as early as three weeks.
“I think a lot of states will see themselves with an excessive supply and excessive reservations. So it will be a shame to look back and realize that we probably should have put more vaccine in some of these hot spots to pull them out sooner, “he said.
The United States reported a total of 31,189,567 COVID-19 cases and 562,059 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic since Sunday – both the highest totals in the world – while reporting 66,533 infections and 709 deaths since Saturday, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The nation also administered a total of 183,467,709 doses of vaccine, with 35.3% of the population receiving at least one dose and 21.3% fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gottlieb’s comments came amid a wave of virus cases in Michigan, as the state, which does not report COVID-19 data on Sunday, recorded 6,892 new cases and 74 deaths on Saturday, after reporting 7,834 cases on Friday for a a total of 738,023 cases and 16,500 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Gov. Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday Make the nation called on the White House to provide the state with additional vaccines to combat growth and called on the state to take a two-week break, including urging high schools to suspend in-person classes, youth sports games and indoor dining and meetings.
“Right now, we know we have even more capacity. We could get more vaccines in our arms. And when there is growth, we think it’s important to hurry to meet where this need is, because what’s happening in Michigan today is what’s happening in other states tomorrow, “Whitmer said.
Gottlieb said the White House should adopt the habit of increasing COVID-19 resources to the hotspots.
“They never perceived that there would be a confluent national epidemic, but there would be localized outbreaks,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. We will not see a confluent epidemic, but we will see those hotspots, so we have to get used to trying to increase resources in those hotspots to put out those outbreaks. “
Elsewhere, Los Angeles has opened its immunization program for residents over the age of 16 as the state prepares to extend vaccination eligibility to those in the group.
California reported 4,954 new cases and 105 deaths on Sunday, noting that the number includes cases from previous months that were not counted. Since the beginning of the pandemic, California has led the country with 3,600,178 cases and 59,218 deaths.
To date, California has administered 22,777,893 doses of vaccine to 6,294,860 fully vaccinated individuals.
Texas ranks second in 2,422,139 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 48,211 deaths, after reporting 1,516 new cases and 26 deaths on Sunday. The state administered 14,312,547 doses of vaccine to 5,613,265 fully vaccinated individuals.
Florida, in third place, reported 5,520 new infections and seven deaths on Sunday, bringing the total to 2,124,233 cases and 34,021 resident deaths. Florida administered 11,161,697 doses of vaccine to 4,400,166 fully vaccinated individuals.
New York ranks fourth in the country with 1,949,964 cases and second in 51,036 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, as it added 6,764 new positive tests and 53 deaths on Sunday. New York administered 11,811,282 doses of vaccine and 4,871,118 people were completely vaccinated.
Illinois has the fifth highest total number of COVID-19 cases at 1,279,772, along with 21,505 deaths, adding 2,942 infections and 16 deaths on Sunday. A total of 7,047,326 COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the state and 2,853,739 people were completely vaccinated.