Dr. Scott Gottlieb served as the commissioner of the FDA from May 2017 to April 2019. In an interview with mainstream media outlet CNBC Tuesday, Jan. 19, he shared his concerns regarding the current rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. Gottlieb believes that there is a strong possibility many younger people who have strong immune systems will decline to get vaccinated.
Demand for coronavirus vaccines is still high because the main demographic being vaccinated are older Americans. Gottlieb believes that, since age factors in greatly to whether or not people get a severe case of the coronavirus, these Americans would naturally be more willing to take the vaccine.
"There's going to be a lot of intense demand even in younger cohorts, but I think once we get to 100 million, maybe 120 million vaccines, the demand is going to get soft," said Gottlieb, who based his forecast on the number of adults who received flu shots in the past year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that about 12.3 million Americans have already received their initial dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Friday morning, Jan. 15 – way short of the goal set by federal officials, which is to give at least 20 million people their first shot before the end of 2020.
The federal government said on Friday, Jan. 15, that it had delivered around 31.2 million doses of vaccines to states, territories and federal agencies. (Related: Vaccine makers express confidence that their shots can take on new "mutant" strain of the same coronavirus their colleagues engineered in the first place.)
"I think we need to also work on the demand side of this equation," said Gottlieb. "We can't lose sight of that and just take for granted that everyone wants this vaccine."
Watch this special episode of Brighteon Conversations with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he has an illuminating conversation with cancer researcher, health freedom advocate and vaccine skeptic Ty Bollinger. During this interview, the two natural health experts rip apart the global conspiracy being woven to justify the mandating of COVID-19 vaccines.
Resistance to coronavirus vaccines still high
According to Gottlieb, the number of people who got vaccinated for the flu last year was at a record high. Unfortunately, this "record high" number was still only around a third of the U.S. population. He believes that when the country reaches this number, demand for the coronavirus vaccine will decrease drastically.
"We've talked about access being the real challenge right now, and now we're talking about supply because we're starting to get to a steady state of supply and it's hard to increase the supply in the near term," said Gottlieb. "At some point, demand is going to become an issue. We can't lose sight of that and just take for granted that everyone wants this vaccine."
Many other sectors of American society have expressed their intention to not get vaccinated, including around a third of nursing home workers in New York State. In some long-term care homes, the number of workers who refuse to be vaccinated is greater than the number of workers who are willing to be or have already been vaccinated.
Around 46 percent of workers in Long Island have declined the vaccines while only 34 percent have received at least the first shot. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine noted that around 60 percent of nursing home workers have declined to be vaccinated.
A poll from Pew Research also suggests that only around 60 percent of the country is willing to be vaccinated. This is actually an increase from a previous survey done in September that showed only 51 percent wanted the vaccine.
Only around half of those people reluctant to get vaccinated have stated that they are willing to change their mind provided they are given more evidence regarding the vaccine's safety.
Biden plans to vaccinate 100 million people in first 100 days
Sources report that Democrat Joe Biden, who is expected to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, has pledged to vaccinate 100 million people during his first 100 days in office.
Biden has said that the Trump administration's current vaccination efforts are not sufficient to quickly vaccinate the populace. This is why, according to his plan, Biden will use the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Guard to construct coronavirus vaccine clinics across the country.
According to Gottlieb, Biden's strategy to vaccinating the populace is an "all-of-the-above approach, and then see what's working."
Biden is trying to reassure the American public about the supposed safety and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines. Back in December, he received his first shot of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on live television, saying afterward that there is "nothing to worry about."
It is still unclear how either the live vaccination or the mass vaccination campaign are expected to ease the anxieties of people who would rather not receive a shot.
Learn more about the ongoing rollout of coronavirus vaccines in the United States and other parts of the world by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.
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