Fauci and CDC director testify on Biden’s Covid-19 response

The US will share coronavirus vaccines with the rest of the world once Americans are immunized, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

He said the US was already taking steps to help people around the world get vaccines by supporting the COVAX global vaccine distribution effort headed by the World Health Organization and nonprofit vaccine groups.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said helping other countries get vaccines is a way to protect Americans.

“We are all in this together as a globe. If you look at H1N1 or Ebola or Zika or now Covid, anything that affects areas around the world is potentially a threat to us,” she told the hearing.

“Indeed, these variants, the ones that we are most concerned about right now, also started in outside countries. So I think we have to work as a nation to protect our nation, and I think we have to work as a globe to protect the globe, and to ensure that we can get resources to resource-limited settings to make sure that we can get vaccines out.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to update its guidance about whether fully vaccinated Americans can safely travel, its director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said Wednesday

“As you may recall, at the time that we released that guidance, just last week, I believe, just 9% of Americans were fully vaccinated. We are now up to about 11%. We are revisiting the travel question. That’s a really key question.”

“Long Covid” – a syndrome that affects many people who have recovered from the acute effects of coronavirus infection, needs more study, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

He laid out the symptoms:

“Profound fatigue, muscle aches, temperature dysregulation, unexplainable tachycardia and what people refer to as brain fog, which is just a strange feeling of being unable to focus or concentrate for any period of time,” Fauci said. 

Tachycardia refers to an unusually fast heart rate. “They’re lying in bed and their heart rate is 110, 105, 115, which is distinctly abnormal for someone that is sitting down or in bed,” said Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

 He said the National Institutes of Health had been given $1.15 billion to study the problem. “You will be hearing more announcements,” he said.

“But it is a very disconcerting syndrome that I believe is going to have effects that will go on well beyond the control, epidemiologically, of this syndrome.”

Asked about reports that vaccination might help alleviate symptoms, Fauci said more study is needed.

 “The issue is thus far that it’s anecdotal,” he said. “Many people get spontaneously better anyway, and if you get vaccinated and get better, you are not sure whether it’s the vaccine or the spontaneous recovery. So you’ll have to do a randomized trial in order to determine that.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to issue new guidance allowing less social distancing in schools, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday.

She said the agency is looking at studies that indicate physical distancing of 3 feet is sufficient to keep students and teachers safe in school.

“There are several other emerging studies that I am aware of,” she added. “As we look at those studies in the context of this Massachusetts study, we are looking to update our guidance.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) pressed Walensky. “I would urge you to act and act now. We don’t need to wait for additional studies,” McMorris Rodgers said.

“We are actively looking at additional studies. We have only one published study to date,” Walensky answered.

“I, too, am a mother of three, one who has been home schooled the entire year. So I am entirely with you that we need to get our children back.”

See the entire exchange between Rep. McMorris Rodgers and Dr. Walenski:

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Testing in the US will show by April whether AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine works safely, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.

But he cast doubt on fears that the vaccine, developed with Britain’s University of Oxford, causes blood clots.

Fauci noted that European regulators are not unduly concerned about reports of blood clots among vaccinated people that have frightened many governments into suspending vaccination programs using AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that the European Medicines Agency has said there is no indication the vaccines make people more likely to suffer blood clots.

“The EMA has indicated very, very clearly, that they feel that this is not an issue with regard to the supposed adverse event of blood clotting,” Fauci said. The company will submit evidence of safety for its emergency use authorization for the vaccine with the US Food and Drug Administration based on US testing.

 “We in the United States have an ongoing trial that is fully enrolled with the AstraZeneca product. As we get into April, there will likely be enough data to make a determination as to the EUA,” Fauci said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said in his written testimony today that while he is “cautiously optimistic” about the future, he is aware many challenges remain.

He pointed to the Covid-19 variants as one of those challenges.

He noted that so far, scientific evidence suggests that the Covid-19 vaccines that are currently being distributed in the United States “continue to be effective against these variants.” Her urged the public, however, to “remain vigilant.”

“NIAID is rapidly conducting research to better understand these emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, how they interact with the immune system, and their implications for COVID-19 therapeutic and vaccine formulations,” Fauci said in his testimony.

Dr. Fauci: This is one of the most important advances we will be pursuing

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The House is holding a hearing now on the Biden administration’s efforts to increase Covid-19 vaccinations as the country continues to battle the pandemic and prevent possible surges.

The witnesses include:

While vaccinations are ramping up in the US, experts worry that some Americans are letting up too early and threatening to wipe out the progress made so far.

At least a dozen state leaders have eased Covid-19 restrictions this month, often citing improving Covid-19 trends and growing vaccination numbers.

Here’s a look at the latest Covid-19 vaccine figures from the CDC:

Track Covid-19 vaccines in the US here.

During a speech marking the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic last week, President Biden offered a plan to lift the country from crisis using a pair of upcoming dates:

Biden said the efforts he’s undertaken in office could allow for a semblance of normality within months.

Biden said the administration will also roll out a set of tools after May 1 to help Americans locate places to get a vaccine. The President underscored the need to accelerate the reopening of schools and said the administration plans to issue further guidance on what people can and cannot do once fully vaccinated.

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said during Friday’s briefing that the vaccine locator tools first announced by Biden will include setting up a website and a call center. In addition, the administration will deploy technology teams to improve state and local websites providing vaccine appointments.

Experts have said safety measures will be crucial because multiple variants of the virus are circulating — including the highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant that was first identified in the UK.

B.1.1.7 is projected to become the dominant variant in the US by the end of this month or early April, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Monday. Because it is highly contagious, it could cause a surge in cases, and vaccination levels are not high enough to stop such a spike, experts have said.

“Then we can truly let go of some of the restrictions that are in place. But if we do this too quickly, we could see an increase in cases, we could see a backslide that is occurring in many European countries and that does not have to be the outcome here in America,” he added.

Research published last week suggested that the variant was associated with an estimated 64% higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

Another peer-reviewed study has linked the variant to a higher risk of death, according to a paper accepted by the journal Nature. This time, the risk of death from the variant was estimated around 55% higher than earlier strains after adjusting for a number of factors like age, sex, and where and when tests were conducted.

A subsequent analysis in the study that accounted for missing and potentially miscategorized test results found the overall increased risk of death may be somewhat higher — around 61% more than earlier strains.

The study was not able to factor in vaccination nor could it show why the variant might be more deadly than earlier strains. Researchers have said current vaccines generally offer good protection against the B.1.1.7 variant.

President Biden’s coronavirus response will be front and center in today’s House hearing.

The White House is racing to blunt and prepare for a potential fourth coronavirus surge as more transmissible coronavirus variants spread across the US — investing billions of dollars to boost coronavirus preparedness, accelerating the pace of vaccinations and working to prepare the public and governors for the prospect of another surge.

In what would be a first, the White House is drawing up plans to surge vaccines to emerging hotspots in an attempt to blunt the virus’ trajectory and protect those at highest risk, two senior administration officials told CNN.

While the number of daily coronavirus cases continues to decline and more than 2 million Americans are now being vaccinated daily, the White House Covid-19 response team has been preparing for the worst.

Officials have been combing through data to plot the virus’s trajectory, mapping out different scenarios and drawing up plans for how the federal government would snap into action.

That focus has increased in recent weeks as the decline in new daily cases slowed, leveling off at a worryingly high level.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the more transmissible B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, will be the dominant strain within weeks. There are also concerns about governors and local officials prematurely loosening public health restrictions in a slew of states.

A fourth surge would be the first on President Biden’s watch and a major test for the new administration. And while some constraints still remain — including the lopsided authority of state and local officials over the federal government in implementing public health restrictions — a half-dozen Biden administration officials told CNN they believe the federal government is better prepared than ever before to handle a surge.

Read more about Biden’s coronavirus response here.