Former FDA Chief Confident U.S. Is ‘Locking In’ Gains from Vaccine Rollout: ‘A Monumental Achievement’

Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is confident that the United States is “locking in” gains on the covid-19 pandemic as the vaccination rollout continues.

He told CBS News’ John Dickerson the U.S. is going see an acceleration in the decline of cases.

“This has been a monumental achievement, rolling out this vaccine, getting that many Americans vaccinated. And it’s going to continue. We’ll continue to chip away at it. The rate of vaccination is going to slow in the coming weeks, but we’ll continue to pick up more people as we get into the summer,” Gottlieb said.

“I think that right now the gains that we’re seeing across the country are locked in. We’re entering warm months when this is going to create a backstop against continued spread of the coronavirus. And so we’re locking in these gains.”

As of this posting, the CDC reports that over 100 million Americans are fully vaccinated, and 44 percent of the entire country has at least one dose. Over 69 percent of all American seniors are fully vaccinated.

When Dickerson asked about New York City reopening on July 1st, Gottlieb said, “I think as we look out into the summer, we’re going to be able to resume normal activity or something resembling normal activity. There’s still going to be a layer of protection on top of what we do, I think people are still going to be cautious. But this is going to be a relatively quiescent summer when it comes to coronavirus spread.”

You can watch above, via CBS.

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