COVID-19 vaccines may prevent disease up to 3 years: Operation Warp Speed official says
It is unclear how effective the vaccines are against transmission
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}With the first coronavirus vaccine recently approved for emergency use and in the process of being rolled out to the country’s medical workers, Dr. Moncef Slaoui said the jabs may offer protection against COVID-19 disease for up to three years.
Slaoui, chief medical adviser for Operation Warp Speed, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday that vaccines will offer long-lasting protection.
“My expectation is that prevention of disease by these vaccines will last quite long, maybe prevention of infection to the level we're seeing, maybe shorter-lasting, maybe lasts three, four, six months,” Slaoui said on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “When prevention of disease, in my humble opinion as an expert, is probably going to last a year or two years, three years."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LIVE UPDATES: Today's latest COVID-19 headlines
Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration committee reviews of Pfizer and Moderna jabs, the latter of which is pending regulatory approval, say it’s unclear what impact the vaccines have against transmission of SARS-CoV-2, among other unknowns, due to limited data.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The FDA has also noted that “available data on Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered to pregnant women are insufficient to inform vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy.” The same applies to children younger than 16.
"We know that there is clearly an expected benefit to immunize pregnant women," Slaoui continued. "The expectation, frankly, is that it should be OK but it is important to document it and study it before it's labeled.”
The Operation Warp Speed official added that Johnson & Johnson plans to cap recruitment on Thursday, with a projected readout of efficacy data in early January.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“We expect filing, if everything goes according to plan, and if the vaccine is efficacious, somewhere very late in January of 2021, and an approval in February, authorization by the FDA,” Slaoui continued.