COVID-19: CDC Chief warns of 'potential fourth surge', says 'we have ability to stop'

The director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, on Monday, March 1, warned that a spike in the coronavirus cases is hinting towards a “fourth surge”. During a White House briefing, she said that this could happen before the majority in the US is vaccinated. “Now is not the time to relax the critical safeguards that we know can stop the spread of Covid-19 in our communities, not when we are so close. We have the ability to stop a potential fourth surge of cases in this country”, said Walensky.

Another vaccine approved 

The vaccination drive has started in the US. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration authorised Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for people ages 18 and older. While taking to Twitter, White House’s senior for COVID response, Andy Slavitt, called the news welcoming as he added that Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is the third “safe and effective” vaccine. This is the first single dose of coronavirus vaccine available in the United States, and is one that “checks nearly all the boxes”. 

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According to the FDA, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was tested in more than 44,000 people in the US, South Africa and Latin America. Globally, the vaccine was 66.1 per cent effective against moderate to severe/critical COVID-19 at least four weeks after vaccination. In the US, the vaccine, however, is considered to be 72 per cent effective and offered 86 per cent protection against severe forms of the disease. 

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Fauci counters 

Countering this, US infectious disease official Anthony Fauci  said that the country must stick to a two-dose strategy for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. As per the reports by The Washington Post, Fauci said that delaying a second dose to inoculate more Americans creates risk. He further said that shifting to a single-dose strategy for the vaccines could leave people less protected. This could enable variants to spread and possibly boost scepticism among Americans already hesitant to get the shots. 

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