Tag: Variant

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Politics

Biden blames delta variant, unvaccinated individuals

Biden blames delta variant, unvaccinated people

President Joe Biden on Friday blamed the coronavirus pandemic for a surprisingly weak jobs report, calling out Americans who have still not gotten vaccinated even amid the spread of the highly infectious delta variant.

Nonfarm payrolls in August increased by just 235,000, the Labor Department reported, far below the 720,000 new hires that economists predicted. The report showed the smallest monthly jobs total since January.

“There’s no question the delta variant is why today’s job report isn’t stronger,” Biden said at the White House shortly after the data came out.

Biden, who has spent much of his first leg in the White House focused on the pandemic, said, “We need to make more progress in fighting the delta variant.”

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Despite the government’s ongoing vaccination push, tens of millions of eligible Americans still have not received even a single dose of a Covid shot. Biden said that group is prolonging the pandemic and contributing to anxieties that impact the economy.

“This is a continuing pandemic of the unvaccinated,” the president said. “Too many have not gotten vaccinated, and it’s creating a lot of unease in our economy and around our kitchen tables.”

Less than 64% of U.S. adults, roughly 175 million people, are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pfizer-BioNTech’s two-shot Covid vaccine, the only one to receive full approval from the Food and Drug Administration, is only available for people 16 and older. Kids ages 12 to 15 are still able to get Pfizer’s shot on an emergency use basis.

Biden acknowledged the weak numbers in the report — “I was hoping for a higher number,” he said. But he nevertheless defended the economic progress that the U.S. has seen under his administration.

“What we’re seeing is an economic recovery that’s durable and strong. The Biden plan is working. We’re getting results.”

The president highlighted the decrease in the unemployment rate, down to 5.2% in the latest report from 6.3% in January.

He also teased new steps the White House would take next week to combat the delta variant, suggesting that the actions would focus on protecting schools, businesses, families and the economy from the virus.

The spread of the delta variant has led to another huge surge in Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths around the country, with Southern states hit especially hard. Florida has a higher Covid hospitalization rate than anywhere else in the U.S., and this week broke its record for the largest single-day rise in deaths, with 1,338 reported Thursday.

Some experts are predicting another spike is in store for the Northeast.

“Now whether we see a wave of infection as dense and severe as the South, I don’t think that’s going to be the case because we have a lot more vaccination; we’ve had a lot of prior infection, which we also know is protective,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA chief for two years under then-President Donald Trump, told CNBC earlier Friday.

“But we will probably see a build in cases here in the Northeast,” he said. “I don’t think that we’re done with this.”

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World News

WHO says it’s monitoring a brand new Covid variant known as ‘mu’

WHO says it is monitoring a new Covid variant called 'mu'

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a bilateral meeting with Swiss Interior and Health Minister Alain Berset on the sidelines of the opening of the 74th World Health Assembly at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, Switzerland May 24, 2021.

Laurent Gillieron | Reuters

The World Health Organization is monitoring a new coronavirus variant called “mu,” which the agency says has mutations that have the potential to evade immunity provided by a previous Covid-19 infection or vaccination.

Mu — also known by scientists as B.1.621 — was added to the WHO’s list of variants “of interest” on Aug. 30, the international health organization said in its weekly Covid epidemiological report published late Tuesday.

The variant contains genetic mutations that indicate natural immunity, current vaccines or monoclonal antibody treatments may not work as well against it as they do against the original ancestral virus, the WHO said. The mu strain needs further study to confirm whether it will prove to be more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

Mu “has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” the WHO wrote in its report Tuesday.

“Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralization capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies,” it added.

The agency is monitoring four variants “of concern,” including delta, which was first detected in India and is the most prevalent variant currently circulating in the U.S.; alpha, first detected in the U.K.; beta, first detected in South Africa, and gamma, first detected in Brazil. A variant of concern is generally defined as a mutated strain that’s either more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments.

It’s also keeping a close watch on four other variants of interest — including lambda, first identified in Peru — that have caused outbreaks in multiple countries and have genetic changes that could make them more dangerous than other strains.

Delta was a variant of interest until the WHO reclassified it in early May after preliminary studies found it could spread more easily than other versions of the virus. That variant has since been blamed for a number of large outbreaks around the world, including in the United States.

The new variant, mu, was first identified in Colombia but has since been confirmed in at least 39 countries, according to the WHO. Although the global prevalence of the variant among sequenced cases has declined and is currently below 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia and Ecuador has consistently increased, the agency warned.

The WHO said more studies are required to understand the clinical characteristics of the new variant.

“The epidemiology of the Mu variant in South America, particularly with the co-circulation of the Delta variant, will be monitored for changes,” the agency said.

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Health

Delta variant sparks renewed curiosity in faculty tuition insurance coverage

Delta variant sparks renewed interest in college tuition insurance

A year ago, rising coronavirus cases ended the fall semester at many universities abruptly when classes began.

This year, too, the Delta variant threatens school closings again. And the possibility of further campus closures has sparked renewed interest in college refund policies and tuition insurance.

According to a survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, about 78% of colleges and universities plan to resume all classroom courses for the fall, and only 19% plan a mix of classroom and online courses.

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However, some colleges and universities have already announced that they will start remotely due to rising cases of Covid, including the University of Texas at San Antonio and Stanislaus State in California.

“Due to the Delta variant of Covid-19 and the need to reduce potential exposures on campus, we are temporarily postponing the start of face-to-face teaching and resettlement plans until October 1,” said Stanislaus President Ellen Junn in a letter the community.

For most students, distance learning is a poor substitute for face-to-face teaching. And almost everyone says it’s not worth the same high cost.

“Paying full price for a fraction of the college experience is going to piss off a lot of people,” said Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub.

Almost half of the students believe universities haven’t done enough to support them during the pandemic, a recent report from WalletHub found.

In the future, some families will become more proactive about protecting their investments.

Laura Hoder, 52, recently purchased a tuition refund policy for her daughter who will be a junior at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts. “It is unknown what will happen to Covid,” she said.

Hoder, who works as a nurse in Fairfield, Connecticut, said she wanted the extra coverage also because of her job and the increased risk posed by her family. “There’s an added level of fear just because of what I’ve seen and know,” she said.

Laura Hoder with her daughter at Dean College.

Source: Laura Hoder

While a number of colleges and universities have announced that they will reimburse fees and room and board if campus closes again, reimbursement policies vary from school to school – and almost all have drawn the line on tuition.

Depending on when a student de-signs out during a semester, a school’s refund policy can reimburse a significant amount (especially if it is done within the first month or so of the semester, although this varies by school).

However, refunds are usually staggered and most schools don’t give any money back after the fifth week of classes.

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Typical refund policy for schools

Source: GradGuard

Many schools now also offer protection from outside lessons or can be purchased directly from a provider such as GradGuard or AWG Dewar up to the first day of class.

Tuition insurance, also known as Tuition Reimbursement Insurance, generally covers families for medical or psychological reasons, with some obvious exclusions, such as:

GradGuard tuition insurance starts at $ 39.95 for $ 2,500 per semester coverage. Most families, however, buy $ 10,000 per term insurance coverage starting at $ 106 to cover their expenses, excluding loans and grants. This covers tuition fees as well as financial losses from room and board and tuition fees.

Since the beginning of Covid, we have seen dramatic interest from schools, students and families.

Natalie Tarangioli

Marketing manager at GradGuard

“Since the beginning of Covid, we’ve seen dramatic interest from schools, students and families,” said Natalie Tarangioli, Marketing Director of GradGuard. The company now works with more than 400 universities.

Before the pandemic, health conditions such as mononucleosis and pneumonia were among the top diseases that stood in the way of timely or even conclusion.

“The real concern last year was that the students were getting Covid,” said Tarangioli. There are additional concerns this year given the Delta variant, mental health and well-being, and other risks, she added. “Sales are more than four times as high as in 2019 and twice as high as in 2020.”

Even though 63% of parents said their child’s plans after high school have returned to what they were before the coronavirus crisis, cost remains a top concern.

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Tuition and fees plus room and board for a four-year private college averaged $ 50,770 for the 2020-21 school year. It was $ 22,180 at four-year state colleges, according to the College Board, which tracks trends in college pricing and student grants.

When you add other expenses, the total bill can be in excess of $ 70,000 a year for students at some private colleges, or even for students out of state attending public four-year schools.

While the cost of a four-year college degree continues to skyrocket, tuition insurance is relatively inexpensive, said Nick Holeman, director of financial planning at Betterment.

Additionally, some tuition insurance policies will reimburse you for up to 100% of the total cost of attending – not just tuition fees – including room and board and even books and other materials.

However, not all policies offer the same level of protection, added Holeman.

“Many Covid-19 tuition fee insurances only pay out if your child actually falls ill with the disease,” he said. “So you will not be reimbursed if you pull your child out due to Delta variant concerns or future outbreaks.”

“You are also non-refundable if your child’s college changes their teaching method from face-to-face to virtual,” added Holeman, which means you can still be hooked on college courses through Zoom.

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Health

How the Delta Variant Is Affecting Wedding ceremony Season

How the Delta Variant Is Affecting Wedding Season

Despite the furious variation that led to the CDC’s recent recommendation that all Americans, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in most parts of the country, some still feel uncomfortable with the demand for evidence. Brides like Mariah Hughes of Bangor, Maine, would rather use the honor system.

“I think I can make an educated guess if my family and friends are vaccinated,” she said. Ms. Hughes and her fiancé Stephen Cormier had planned to get married in September but postponed their date until next June as the photographer they wanted to work with was firmly booked. You are less frustrated than relieved. “With the Delta variant that is so widespread, we feel we have made the right decision,” she said.

Not that she or anyone can rely on Covid to be history next year. In Denver, Brittney Griffin, the event manager at the Blanc wedding venue, is ready to pull masks out again, despite the high vaccination rates in Colorado. “We haven’t had to do that yet,” but she said new mandates could come. “Unfortunately we’ve been through this before, so if it becomes necessary again we’ll at least be prepared.”

Niche players like McKenzi Taylor, the founder of Cactus Collective Weddings in Las Vegas, could be one of the few whose businesses got back on their feet thanks to Delta. Ms. Taylor plans small weddings in remote, outdoor settings.

“We’re usually people’s second choice,” she said, which means that most of the couples they contact do so because Covid has spoiled their original plans. With the virus outbreak in 2020, it saw bookings surge by 30 percent. Now business is booming again. “Unfortunately we are in a completely new cycle with Delta. I get a lot of calls asking ‘How soon can we get married?’ “

However, timing cannot be everything. “In four years we will still have breakthrough infections,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, Infectious Disease Specialist and Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security. “It will still be a problem.”

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Health

Breakthrough Infections and the Delta Variant: What to Know

What to Know About Breakthrough Infections and the Delta Variant

“Long Covid” is a poorly understood set of symptoms that can plague people for several months after an active infection has ended. While these symptoms eventually go away in many patients, “there is this subset of people who have long had Covid who just cannot recover,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University.

Only a few small studies have looked at how common or how severely Covid can occur after breakthrough infections. It’s likely rare, say some experts, because breakthrough infections are unusual to begin with and of shorter duration.

In a study in Israel, about seven out of 36 people with breakthrough infections had symptoms that lasted more than six weeks. And in a survey of Covid-19 survivors, 24 out of 44 people with a symptomatic breakthrough infection reported persistent problems.

“We really need a broader national or even international survey,” said Dr. Iwasaki.

If you can survive a breakthrough infection relatively unscathed, you will likely get away with more robust protection against variants. Essentially, the infection acts as a booster shot, researchers say, boosting your immune system’s ability to recognize and fight the virus.

Studies have shown that when people recovering from Covid-19 receive even one dose of a vaccine, their antibody levels skyrocket. “I assume similar things would happen if you had a breakthrough infection,” said Dr. Iwasaki.

The vaccines train the immune system to recognize a piece of the original virus, a strategy that could leave us vulnerable to future variants. But any exposure expands the immunity repertoire, said Dr. Mina.

Eventually, through booster vaccinations or through repeated infections, our bodies will gain sufficient training in the virus to face versions with new mutations, he said, adding, “But we’re not there yet.”

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Health

WHO says it urgently wants $7.7 billion to assist poorer nations survive delta Covid variant

WHO says it urgently needs $7.7 billion to help poorer nations survive delta Covid variant

Director General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on July 28, 2021.

Jaber Abdulkhaleg | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The World Health Organization is calling for $ 7.7 billion, which officials say is badly needed to help low-income countries survive the Delta-Covid variant through the provision of vaccines, oxygen and medical care.

The funds will be used for the WHO’s Access to Covid-19 Tools program, or ACT, accelerator program that provides critical medical supplies to fight the coronavirus worldwide, said Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior advisor to the WHO director-general, during a question and answer session with WHO officials, streamed a live stream on their social media accounts on Tuesday.

Aylward said the funds are needed to partially cover a $ 16.8 billion shortfall that hampers WHO’s ability to fight the pandemic in developing countries with little or no access to vaccines.

“Aside from the moral question – people shouldn’t die if the technology is available elsewhere, you know, technology should help humanity as a whole – there is also the problem that we can’t solve this pandemic in one country at a time. “Said Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO Deputy Director General for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Medicines.

“That’s the reality,” she continued. “We have to help the countries move closer together. Otherwise we will live with this virus much longer than necessary.”

WHO officials have set a goal to vaccinate at least 10% of the world’s population by the end of September, at least 40% by the end of this year, and 70% by the middle of next year. Some nations around the world have not yet started their vaccination campaigns, while wealthier countries like the US and Israel have already fully vaccinated more than half of their populations.

Aylward said people in poorer countries who have a fever or other symptoms don’t have the test materials to know if it’s Covid or other diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, pneumonia or HIV. In addition to providing doses of vaccine, Aylward said the funding will also include Covid testing, oxygen treatments and masks.

Wealthy nations have spent trillions of dollars to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, he said. “Your economy tells you to vaccinate the world and of course we didn’t listen,” he said.

The WHO previously said it was in dire need of $ 7.7 billion to run the ACT Accelerator, and at that point was calling for an additional $ 3.8 billion to buy 760 million doses of Covid vaccine for delivery the next Year, reported Reuters.

“This is the defining moment of our time,” said Aylward. “At some point we look back and that will be the question: How did you behave in those crucial moments?”

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Health

What to Know About Breakthrough Infections and the Delta Variant

What to Know About Breakthrough Infections and the Delta Variant

“Long Covid” is a poorly understood set of symptoms that can plague people for several months after an active infection has ended. While those symptoms eventually resolve in many patients, “there are this subset of people who have long Covid who just aren’t able to recover at all,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University.

Only a couple of small studies have investigated how common or severe long Covid may be after breakthrough infections. It is likely to be rare, Dr. Iwasaki said, because breakthrough infections are uncommon to begin with and shorter in duration.

In one study in Israel, about seven of 36 people with breakthrough infections had persistent symptoms for more than six weeks. And in a survey of Covid-19 survivors, 24 of 44 people with a symptomatic breakthrough infection reported lingering problems.

“We really need a wider national or even international survey,” Dr. Iwasaki said.

If you get through a breakthrough infection relatively unscathed, you are likely to walk away with more robust protection against variants. The infection essentially acts as a booster shot, researchers say, strengthening your immune system’s ability to recognize and fight the virus.

Studies have shown that when people who recover from Covid-19 receive even one dose of a vaccine, their antibody levels skyrocket. “I expect similar things would happen when you have a breakthrough infection,” Dr. Iwasaki said.

The vaccines train the immune system to recognize a piece of the original virus, a strategy that may leave us vulnerable to future variants. But every exposure broadens the repertoire of immunity, Dr. Mina said.

Eventually, through booster shots or through repeated infections, our bodies will gain an education in the virus sufficient to counter versions with new mutations, he said, adding, “But we’re not there yet.”

Categories
Health

Dr. Gottlieb says delta variant surge will be the ‘last wave’ in U.S.

Dr. Gottlieb says delta variant surge may be the ‘final wave’ in U.S.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday that the current spike in Covid infections caused by the more contagious Delta variant could be the “last wave” of the virus in the United States.

“I don’t think Covid will be epidemic all through the fall and winter. I think this is the final wave, the final act, provided we don’t have a variant that pierces the immunity of a previous infection.” or vaccination, “the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner told the Squawk Box.” This will likely be the wave of infections that will end up affecting people who refuse to be vaccinated. “

Gottlieb said Americans still have a few months to take pandemic-related precautions, especially in the northern US states, as cases peak in the south until the wave of infections subsides again.

“I think this is going to be a difficult time,” he said. However, Gottlieb said the contagious nature of the Delta variant and the increased vaccination rates could change the course of future infections.

“We’re going to get some population-wide exposure to this virus, either through vaccination or through previous infection, which at this rate will stop circulating at that rate,” said Gottlieb, who ran the FDA from 2017-2019 under the Donald Trump administration.

According to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, the seven-day average of new daily coronavirus cases in the US is 108,624. That is 36% more than a week ago. The highly communicable Delta variant, first identified in India, accounts for 83% of all sequenced Covid cases in the country, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Given the surge in infections to coincide with plans to reopen schools in the fall, Gottlieb warned that schools may have to start the year with more stringent containment measures such as masking, testing, physical distancing and collecting through capsules.

“The goal must be to keep schools open and open, and we cannot expect us to change all behaviors about what we do about mitigation in schools and achieve the same result, in particular with this new “Delta variant, which is more contagious and will inevitably be difficult to control in schools,” said Gottlieb, who sits on the board of directors of the Covid vaccine manufacturer Pfizer.

Large numbers of vaccinated people can still congregate at a venue if there is an “appearance of a bubble,” he said. Vaccinated people who become infected are likely to get the virus from unvaccinated people and then spread it to close contacts after being contagious for a brief window of time, the former FDA chief said.

Gottlieb said wearing a higher quality mask like the KN95 mask is more important now as the virus is known to spread through aerosols rather than droplets. A good quality cloth mask only offers 20% protection from transmission, and most people don’t wear it well, he said.

“We’re bringing a kind of alpha mindset into a delta world, and it’s not going to work,” said Gottlieb, referring to the alpha coronavirus variant that was first discovered in the UK last year. “We will see that this delta variant is more difficult to control,” he said.

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.

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Health

The Delta Variant Is Sending Extra Kids to the Hospital. Are They Sicker, Too?

The Delta Variant Is Sending More Children to the Hospital. Are They Sicker, Too?

What is clear is that a confluence of factors – including Delta’s contagiousness and the fact that people under the age of 12 are not yet eligible for vaccination – will result in more children being hospitalized, especially in areas of the country in where the virus is increasing. “If you have more cases then of course it eventually comes down to the kids,” said Dr. Malley.

Many children’s hospitals had hoped for a quiet summer. Several common childhood viruses are less common in the warmer months, and national Covid rates declined in the spring.

But that started to change last month as Delta spread. “The number of positive Covid tests began to rise in early July,” said Marcy Doderer, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “And then we really started to see the kids get sick.”

The vaccines are effective against Delta – and offer strong protection from serious illness and death – but children under 12 are not yet eligible for them. As more adults are vaccinated, children make up an increasing proportion of Covid cases; between July 22 and July 29, they accounted for 19 percent of reported new cases, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“They’re the unvaccinated,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Stanford Medicine and chair of the AAP Infectious Diseases Committee. “We see all new infections there.”

According to the association, almost 72,000 new pediatric Covid cases were reported from July 22 to July 29, almost twice as many as in the previous week. At Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, 181 children tested positive for the virus in July, up from just 12 in June.

Most of these children have relatively mild symptoms such as runny nose, constipation, cough, or fever, said Dr. Wassam Rahman, the medical director of the Pediatric Emergency Center at All Children’s. “Most children are not very sick,” he said. “Most of them will go home and receive preventive treatment at home. But as you can imagine, families are scared. “

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Health

Epidemiologist Larry Good on delta variant, vaccinations

Epidemiologist Larry Brilliant on delta variant, vaccinations

The pandemic is not coming to an end soon — given that only a small proportion of the world population has been vaccinated against Covid-19, a well-known epidemiologist told CNBC.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the World Health Organization’s team that helped eradicate smallpox, said the delta variant is “maybe the most contagious virus” ever.

In recent months, the U.S., India and China, as well as other countries in Europe, Africa and Asia have been grappling with a highly transmissible delta variant of the virus.

WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic last March — after the disease, which first emerged in China in late 2019, spread throughout the world.

The good news is that vaccines — particularly those using messenger RNA technology and the one by Johnson & Johnson — are holding up against the delta variant, Brilliant told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants.

Larry Brilliant

Epidemiologist

Still, only 15% of the world population has been vaccinated and more than 100 countries have inoculated less than 5% of their people, noted Brilliant.

“I think we’re closer to the beginning than we are to the end [of the pandemic], and that’s not because the variant that we’re looking at right now is going to last that long,” said Brilliant, who is now the founder and CEO of a pandemic response consultancy, Pandefense Advisory.

“Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants,” he said, predicting that the coronavirus will eventually become a “forever virus” like influenza.

Probability of ‘super variant’

Brilliant said his models on the Covid outbreak in San Francisco and New York predict an “inverted V-shape epidemic curve.” That implies that infections increase very quickly, but would also decline rapidly, he explained.

If the prediction turns out be true, it means that the delta variant spreads so quickly that “it basically runs out of candidates” to infect, explained Brilliant.  

There appears to be a similar pattern in the U.K. and India, where the spread of the delta variant has receded from recent highs.

But I do caution people that this is the delta variant and we have not run out of Greek letters so there may be more to come.

Larry Brilliant

Epidemiologist

Daily reported cases in the U.K. — on a seven-day moving average basis — fell from a peak of around 47,700 cases on July 21 to around 26,000 cases on Thursday, according to statistics compiled by online database Our World in Data.

In India, the seven-day moving average of daily reported cases has stayed below 50,000 since late June — far below the peak of more than 390,000 a day in May, the data showed.

“That may mean that this is a six-month phenomenon in a country, rather than a two-year phenomenon. But I do caution people that this is the delta variant and we have not run out of Greek letters so there may be more to come,” he said.

The epidemiologist said there is a low probability that a “super variant” may emerge and vaccines don’t work against it. While it’s hard to predict these things, he added, it’s a non-zero probability, which means it cannot be ruled out.

“It’s such a catastrophic event should it occur, we have to do everything possible to prevent it,” said Brilliant. “And that means get everyone vaccinated — not just in your neighborhood, not just in your family, not just in your country but all over the world.”

Covid vaccine boosters

Some countries with relatively high vaccination rates such as the U.S. and Israel are planning booster shots for their population. Others, such as Haiti, only recently secured their first batch of vaccine doses.

WHO has called on wealthy countries to hold off on Covid vaccine boosters to give low-income countries a chance to vaccinate their people.

But in addition to boosting vaccination in countries with a low inoculation rate, Brilliant said one group of people needs a booster shot “right away” — those who are 65 years and above, and were fully vaccinated more than six months ago but have a weakened immune system.

“It is this category of people that we’ve seen create multiple mutations when the virus goes through their body,” said the epidemiologist.

“So those people, I would say, should be given a third dose, a booster right away — as quickly as moving the vaccines to those countries that haven’t had a very high chance to buy them or have access to them. I consider those two things about equal,” he added.

— CNBC’s Rich Mendez contributed to this report.