Companies that require office workers to get Covid vaccinations are unlikely to need to take additional precautions against the virus even as the Delta variant spikes, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Thursday.
“I think companies probably don’t need to take any additional measures right now,” such as: B. regulated virus tests, Gottlieb told co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin in “Squawk Box”.
“The belief is that people who are vaccinated and develop the infection can be contagious early in the course of the infection, but clear the infection faster,” added Gottlieb, who was Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019 Board member at several companies, including vaccine maker Pfizer.
Gottlieb pointed to real evidence in Israel showing that “people who get vaccinated and become infected spread within the household but not outside the household.”
Vaccinated people still need to be vigilant about the virus and get tested if they have a viral illness, he said.
“You can certainly see that infection rates are increasing among the vaccinated population. People who were vaccinated some time ago are more prone to Covid. Eventually, some of these infections will give poor results, ”he said.
The number of companies requiring their employees to vaccinate has increased in recent days, with McDonald’s being the latest corporate giant to put such a policy in place on Wednesday. The vaccination edict of the fast food chain applies to the company’s workforce.
Gottlieb said he expected more companies to follow suit, especially those that want employees to return to the office after more than a year of remote work in the fall. He cited the government’s vaccination requirement for U.S. military personnel and federal employees – as well as the potential full FDA approval of Covid vaccines – as “an added boost to businesses” that will “give them confidence that they have the legal basis to do so” stand in relation to compulsory vaccination. “
Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC employee and a member of the board of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, health technology company Aetion, and biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.
