Olsterholm: Biden administration needs to focus on first vax doses

 Michael Osterholm, a top epidemiologist who advised President Joe Biden’s transition team on the coronavirus pandemic, said Sunday that the U.S. needs to “call an audible” with its vaccination program, prioritizing a rush to give a single dose to as many people as possible ahead of a likely surge of cases attributed to more contagious mutations of the virus.

Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told “Meet the Press” that he expects to see a new surge of infections “in the next six to 14 weeks,” thanks to the spread of new variants like the one first discovered in the United Kingdom. Looking at an increase in hospitalizations in the U.K. during the spread of this new variant, he predicted another surge in the U.S. will usher in “something like we have not seen yet in this country.”

“We still want to get two doses in everyone, but I think right now, in advance of this surge, we need to get as many one-doses in as many people over 65 as we possibly can, to reduce serious illness and death that is going to occur over the weeks ahead,” Osterholm said.

Right now, the two coronavirus vaccines approved for emergency use require two doses spaced out over a few weeks, but studies do show the vaccines provide significant protection after just one dose. A vaccine candidate from Johnson & Johnson, which could be authorized in the coming weeks, requires just one dose.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/top-epidemiologist-says-biden-administration-needs-focus-first-vaccine-doses-n1256293