A rapid surge again in COVID-19 cases across Europe raises the question of whether the U.S. runs a similar risk in the coming months. But Dr Scott Gottlieb is convinced the pandemic will be “far less fearsome” after the Delta wave.
Dr Gottlieb’s remarks on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’
On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Gottlieb attributed the rising cases of COVID-19 in Germany to a lack of vaccination.
The old eastern part of Germany is seeing a dense spread of the Coronavirus. These are the regions that are very under-vaccinated. We know that Delta finds its way into pockets of vulnerability, and Germany has big ones in parts of the country.
Another reason, as per Dr Gottlieb, could be the “substantially lower” level of population immunity in Germany compared to the U.S., considering that the latter has historically had significantly larger waves of infection.
COVID-19 will eventually become manageable
The former FDA commissioner finds it encouraging that there have been no reports of a new variant, more contagious or fatal than the Delta so far. On the back of herd immunity, vaccination, and oral antivirals, he expects the Coronavirus to be managed like the flu in the coming years.
It’s not going to dominate our lives the way it does right now. I think once this Delta wave is done sweeping across the population; about 60% of Americans would have had COVID at that point, and the rest would have been vaccinated, this is going to become far less fearsome.
He agrees that new COVID-19 cases will continue to emerge in the future but is confident that hospitalisation and deaths will fall dramatically. Last week, the World Health Organisation dubbed the global distribution of booster shots a “scandal that must stop”.
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