Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, suggested that “80% of the benefit” of the upcoming coronavirus vaccines can be obtained by “only immunizing a few percent of the population.”
“And remember, if we can immunize for impact, that is, immunize those groups that are at the highest risk like long-term care facilities, the elderly, minorities, we can absolutely get 80% of the benefit of the vaccine by only immunizing a few percent of the population,” Giroir told CNN guest host Dana Bash during a Sunday morning “State of the Union” appearance.
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Giroir was responding to a question from Bash about a significant percentage of Americans, particularly minorities, who expressed skepticism about taking a vaccine for COVID-19 in a recent poll.
“So, I want to make sure that all Americans know that this vaccine — these vaccines have been tested in tens of thousands of individuals,” he said. “There are independent data safety monitoring boards. There’s going to be an independent transparent review. The Pfizer vaccine will have an advisory committee on December 10th. All the data will be out there.”
The White House coronavirus task force member called upcoming vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna “safe” and “very effective.” (RELATED: Leo Terrell Rips California COVID ‘Hypocrisy’, Says He Is Considering Leaving The State)
“We should have enough vaccine by the end of the year to immunize 20 million Americans,” he said. “We have to immunize for impact. The rest of America will get it the second quarter, the third quarter of 2021, but we can maximize our impact right now.”
