WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — White House officials say a trial studying coronavirus transmission in vaccinated people, which has major implications for masking and other guidelines, is underway Friday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says scientists are trying to answer the two most pressing questions for millions of Americans already fully vaccinated against COVID-19: Can they become infected without showing any symptoms, and if so, can they transmit the coronavirus to someone else?
Fauci said at the White House coronavirus briefing Friday that a large trial is under way involving 12,000 college students at more than 20 universities.
“This is a question of extreme importance,” he said. “This will help inform science-based decisions about mask use and about social distancing post-vaccination.”
Half the students will get the two-dose Moderna shot and the other half will initially serve as a control group, while getting the same vaccine four months later.
All the students will keep an electronic diary, swab their noses daily and provide occasional blood samples. They’ll also provide the names of close contacts. Fauci says it may take about five months to get some answers.
During Friday’s briefing, White House officials also announced three additional cities will host federally-run mass vaccination centers and said delivery of the J&J vaccine is on track, despite concerns it could be delayed.
Boston, Norfolk, Virginia, and Newark, New Jersey, will host sites capable of vaccinating a combined total of 15,000 people a day, according to White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.
Zients said the U.S. is now vaccinating an average of 2.5 million people a day, a pace that allows the nation to meet President Joe Biden’s new goal of 200 million doses in his first 100 days in office which he announced Thursday.
States are also moving up the dates for younger adults to get vaccinated and the federal government is taking steps to increase the number of vaccinators and vaccine sites, further increasing the pace.
Zients also said Johnson & Johnson is on track to meet its target of delivering 20 million doses of its one-shot vaccine by the end of March, with at least 11 million doses expected for distribution next week.
There had been concerns that J&J shipments were delayed because key U.S. manufacturing partners, including Catalent Inc, did not immediately receive U.S. regulatory clearance to send out doses made in their facilities.
Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna expect to hit their target of supplying 220 million shots between them in the first quarter of 2021, Zients added.
The White House is also working to speed up administration of shots by increasing the number of active duty troops assisting with vaccinations, to more than 6,000 from 2,900, Zients said.
As of Friday, 71% of adults aged 65 and over have received at least one vaccine dose, Zients added.
Meanwhile, daily virus cases and hospitalizations are rising.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she was deeply concerned about the trajectory of COVID-19 cases in the United States. The country’s seven-day average daily case count is up 7% over last week, to 57,000 daily cases.
“We know from higher surges that if we don’t control things now, there is a real potential for the epidemic curve to soar again,” she said.
“It is clear there is a case for optimism, but there is not a case for relaxation,” Zients said. “This is not the time to let down our guard.”
