The United States might be ahead of Europe now when it comes to taking down the novel coronavirus.
What’s going on?
Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that the United States might be ahead of Europe now in terms of taking down the novel coronavirus.
- “Earlier I said we were sort of four to maybe six weeks behind Europe, and we pretty much were,” he told CNBC. “Everything that happened in Europe eventually happened here. Now I think the tables have turned. We’re ahead of Europe.”
- “I don’t think the conditions in Europe and the situation in Europe is necessarily predictive anymore of what’s going to happen here because we have much more immunity in our population both from prior infection — which they have as well — but also now from vaccination,” he said.
Flashback
Gottlieb’s comments come after Dr. Anthony Fauci said the United States needs to keep its eye on Europe as a potential indicator of what could happen, CNN reports.
- Fauci told CNN the novel coronavirus remains a threat in the United States since there could be new variants. He said Europe could be an indicator of a forthcoming surge in the United States.
- “When you see a plateau at a level as high as 60,000 cases a day, that is a very vulnerable time to have a surge, to go back up. That’s what exactly happened in Europe,” Fauci said over the weekend, according to CNN.
A look at the numbers
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports 9% of the vaccine-eligible population of the European Union have received one COVID-19 vaccine shot.
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Meanwhile, close to 27% of all Americans have received one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.