Listener Q&A: Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy On Variants, Boosters And Vax Mandates

Consider This from NPR

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🗓️ 9 June 2021

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

More than half of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, and case rates are at their lowest point since the pandemic began. But there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the future of the pandemic. Questions about variants, vaccine booster shots and the idea of vaccine mandates in schools or publicly-funded universities.

We had a chance to put some of the questions — including ones from you — to the nation's top doctor, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, in an interview conducted on Twitter Spaces, a new platform for live audio conversations on Twitter. To participate in future Twitter Spaces conversations, follow us on Twitter @nprAudie and @npratc. You can find our episodes on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #NPRConsiderThis.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There are so many variants in so many places.
0:03.2	The World Health Organization has started using Greek letters to keep them straight.
0:07.5	One of the latest and most concerning is called the Delta variant.
0:11.6	It originated in India and it's now the dominant form of infection in the UK
0:16.4	where it accounts for more than 60% of all cases
0:20.0	and is driving surges in some parts of the country.
0:23.2	It's essentially taking over.
0:26.4	We cannot let that happen in the United States.
0:29.6	It is Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week
0:32.0	that Delta variant may be associated with more severe disease
0:35.6	and a higher risk of hospitalization.
0:38.5	And in the UK,
0:39.6	The transmission is picking in the younger group of 12 to 20 year olds.
0:45.2	Here in the US, the Delta variant accounts for more than 6% of cases.
0:50.7	Of course, the question you might have is, do vaccines work against it?
0:54.8	The good news is the data that we have tells us that the vaccines we have
0:59.4	in the United States are effective against the variants circulating the United States.
1:03.6	That's good news.
1:04.7	The key though, and this is really important,
1:07.0	is that you need to get both doses.
1:09.3	Surgeon General Vivek Murthy pointed us to a recent study that showed a single dose of Pfizer
1:14.8	was only 33% effective against the Delta variant.
	...

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