Former FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb Endorses Return to ‘Normal Activity’ for Vaccinated People: Their Risk of ‘Bad Outcome’ is on Par With Flu

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner who serves on the board of Pfizer, said the risk of a “bad outcome” from Covid-19 for people who are fully vaccinated could be the same — or even less — than the risk of a bad outcome from the flu.

CBS News anchor John Dickerson asked Gottlieb about “individual risk calculations” being made by Americans as coronavirus cases continue to decline as vaccinations increase. Gottlieb said last week that he thought the numbers were good enough to justify lifting indoor mask mandates.

“[If] you’ve been vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines or the J&J vaccine, your risk is very low from having a bad Covid outcome and your risk of getting an asymptomatic infection that you could spread to others is also substantially reduced,” Gottlieb explained. “The data now does support that. So we could start drawing some firm conclusions and basing our public health advice on that.”

For fully vaccinated, immuno-competent people, Gottlieb said the risk of a “bad outcome” from a Covid-19 infection is roughly on par with the flu.

“I think you can sort of conclude that probably your risk from Covid if you’re fully vaccinated, is comparable, maybe even less than your risk from flu if you’re fully vaccinated, in older individuals. So, you know, you can start resuming normal activity. I think the only residual risk for someone who’s fully vaccinated is could you have asymptomatic infection that you don’t know about? And if you’re around someone who’s immunocompromised, is vulnerable to Covid, you still want to be careful in those circumstances.”

Dickerson asked if those who are fully vaccinated, even the elderly, should consider the risk of Covid to be comparable to the flu when making decisions of how to live their lives.

“I think that that’s right,” Gottlieb said. He noted that some find it “uncomfortable” to compare the risk of Covid-19 to the flu, but “for most consumers who need something to anchor against, I think that that’s a fair assessment that if you’re fully vaccinated against Covid with one of the Western vaccines, your risk of having a bad outcome from Covid is about comparable to flu and maybe less because the vaccines for Covid are more effective than the vaccines for flu.”

The vaccines will not be as effective, however, for those who are immunocompromised, Gottlieb said.

“But outside of those circumstances, I think we can get back to doing normal things right now against the backdrop of a summer when prevalence is going to decline very quickly.”

Watch above, via CBS.