Former FDA commissioner says 'we're close to the end of the pandemic phase' as kids get vaccinated and COVID-19 pills emerge

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the US was "close to the end of the pandemic phase of this virus."
He said he believed the spread of the Delta variant marked the "last major wave of infection."
Gottlieb said vaccines for children and antiviral COVID-19 pills should bring the pandemic stage to an end.

Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday that the pandemic phase of COVID-19 may be nearing an end as children get vaccinated and new medications to treat COVID-19 emerge.

"I think that we're close to the end of the pandemic phase of this virus, and we're going to enter a more endemic phase," Gottlieb said Sunday during an appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

"So as the situation improves here in the US, people are going to go out more," he added. "Cases may pick up. But that doesn't mean that we're entering into another wave of infection. I think we're close to the end of this. This delta wave is the last major wave of infection."

Gottlieb said the end of the pandemic stage of COVID-19 was nearing for two reasons. First, because children as young as five were now able to get vaccinated against COVID-19. And because of two new potential pills that could treat the symptoms of COVID-19.

"And there will be more behind that," he said.

-Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 7, 2021

The FDA at the end of October voted to issue an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, allowing children between the ages of 5 and 11 to receive the two-dose shot. This is the first vaccine available to children in this age group.

Last week, Pfizer said its experimental coronavirus pill slashed the risk of hospitalization and death by 89% among high-risk people recently infected with COVID-19, as Insider's Andrew Dunn reported. In October, Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics asked the FDA to authorize its COVID-19 antiviral pill.

Just 7% of people who received the Merck pill in a clinical trial were hospitalized or died with the disease, compared with 14% of those who got a placebo, according to the previous Insider report.

The pills could help doctors treat COVID-19 patients with severe cases of the disease, particularly people who have not been vaccinated against it.

Gottlieb on Sunday said he expected the Delta variant to continue to spread throughout the country, particularly among the unvaccinated.

"This has to play out," he told CBS News' Margaret Brennan. "The reality is, this delta infection is going to capture most people who remain unvaccinated at this point. We've done a phenomenal job of vaccinating the adult population."

Read the original article on Business Insider