Nursing homes should see “some indications” of vaccines that have an effect “as early as this week,” says Gottlieb

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Former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday that nursing homes where COVID-19 vaccinations began would likely begin to see a reduction in new case rates in a few days.

Speaking to CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Gottlieb noted that vaccines usually take about a week to take effect and provide immunity to viruses, and that many long-term care facilities for the elderly would see their number start to drop soon.

“We will start to see some indications that vaccines are likely to have an effect maybe as early as this week, because we know that immunity will start to trigger about a week after vaccination,” Gottlieb said. “So this will start to have an impact on mortality trends with COVID, but it will come late in the season.”

He noted that elderly patients have a more urgent need for a second dose of vaccine to provide full immunity to the virus, while younger people have shown stronger immunity after a single dose.

However, the timing of the first dose, Gottlieb said on Sunday, was slower than officials had hoped.

“The pace is slower than what has been said. I think it’s probably realistic to believe that the pace will be a little slower, especially as we try to get through hard-to-vaccinate populations next month,” he told host Margaret Brennan.

“I suspect there are more than a million who have been vaccinated. There is a gap in reporting. But the idea that we will reach 20 million vaccines, vaccinations, by the end of the year, is probably unrealistic at the moment,” Gottlieb continued. .

State officials, including the governor of Michigan. Gretchen WhitmerGretchen Whitmer on Sunday shows preview: COVID-19 relief awaiting Trump’s signature; The government continues to develop the Michigan vaccine for the reopening of high schools, indoor entertainment, amid the stabilization of coronavirus rates Michigan restores the moratorium on the pandemic to close the water MORE (D), criticized the federal government for the delays in the distribution process for the COVID-19 vaccine in recent days, calls that led to the top logistics function dealing with the launch, Army General Gustave Perna, apologizing for a “misrepresentation” that said it concluded that states were told they would receive more doses of the vaccine than was actually available.

“I accept responsibility for the wrong communication,” Perna said last Saturday. “So to the governors and the governor’s staff; please accept my personal apology. If this has been disruptive in decision-making and in conversations with the people of your great state, I will work hard to correct this.”

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