The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, told senators he did not want to hint last week that it could take until the second half of next year for enough Covid-19 vaccine to be available to inoculate all americans.
Redfield told a Senate health committee hearing on Wednesday that about 700 million doses of vaccines should be available by April, echoing a schedule set by Paul Mango, deputy chief of staff for the Department of Health and Human Services, the last week.
Vaccine candidates that are more advanced in development will require a two-dose regimen. Redfield’s comments last week, in an appearance before a different Senate panel, “hinted at how long I thought it would take to get those doses out to the American public,” he said. It could take until July to distribute the vaccine to all Americans who want one, Redfield said.
President Donald Trump said last week that he had called Redfield after his earlier testimony to tell him his comments were not correct.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, agreed Wednesday to the schedule of 700 million doses for April.
Political Questions
The heads of US health agencies tried during Wednesday’s hearing to reassure the public that staff are making decisions, particularly around a vaccine, based on science, not politics. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn has vowed to take whatever vaccine his agency authorizes.
“The FDA will not authorize or approve a vaccine that we would not be comfortable giving to our families,” Hahn said.
The agency plans to “provide additional information to make it clear what we expect” from vaccine manufacturers requesting emergency authorization for an injection, Hahn said. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s office of biologics that oversees vaccines, said Sept. 10 that the agency would publish guidelines for vaccine manufacturers that will set a higher bar for emergency authorization.
Redfield said the CDC data indicates that 90% of Americans are still susceptible to the virus.
Health officials also said they were dismayed by studies showing that “a disturbing number” of people recovering from Covid-19 experience inflammation in the muscles of the heart, Fauci said. The inflammation is “really quite puzzling,” Fauci told lawmakers, and it remains to be seen if it will decrease or if those who have had the virus could suffer from cardiovascular problems later on.
“This is the kind of thing that tells us to be humble,” Fauci said, “that we don’t fully understand the nature of the virus.”
Childhood cases
In another area of concern, hospitalization rates among children with Covid-19 increased over the summer, according to comments prepared by the CDC for the audience.
“Although the death rate is low for children 18 years and younger, hospitalization rates associated with Covid-19 increased among this age group during the summer,” according to the testimony.
The CDC previously reported that from March 1 to July 25, 1 in 3 children admitted to a hospital for Covid-19 ended up in an intensive care unit. The number of pediatric hospitalizations is still small compared to adults, but the data highlights that children are not immune to the virus, as President Donald Trump has claimed, and can suffer from serious illnesses.
The percentage of all Covid-19 hospitalizations involving children increased from 0.8% on May 21 to 1.7%, totaling 5,016, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported on September 17. Children accounted for 10.3% of the more than 5.7 million Covid-19 cases. in the United States, the academy said. When the coronavirus pandemic began earlier this year, the CDC originally said that children accounted for 2% of Covid-19 cases.
Redfield did not immediately expand on the prepared comments, but a CDC report shows that weekly hospitalizations for all ages related to Covid-19 reached a second peak in the week ending July 18. Weekly adult hospitalizations fell between the weeks ending Aug. 1 and Sept. 1, 12, while rates among children remained stable during that period, the CDC said.
.
