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People who have already been infected with coronavirus, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, would still benefit from obtaining Covid vaccinations. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday, the former FDA commissioner recognized that some people may believe that the antibodies produced by the sickness provide enough protection against future infection or illness and, as a result, forego taking the Covid vaccine. The vaccination should still be given for “two reasons,” according to Gottlieb, who also serves on the board of vaccine manufacturer Pfizer. “For one, we believe the vaccination gives a more persistent and broader immunity, so it’ll protect you better against the variations,” he added, referring to the highly transmissible delta version that has public health experts concerned. “Two, if you’ve been previously infected and even if you get a single dosage of the vaccination — forget getting both doses of the vaccine, just a single dose of the vaccine,” Gottlieb explained. Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines require two doses to provide full immune protection. A single-dose vaccine is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. In the United States, those are the only three vaccinations approved for emergency use. “If you’ve been previously sick and get vaccinated, it’s sort of the best of all worlds,” said Gottlieb, who oversaw the FDA from 2017 to 2019 during the Trump administration. “Based on the data that we’ve seen so far, you do build a wide, very deep, very persistent immunity with just one dosage, so there are still a lot of compelling reasons why you’d want to get vaccinated even if you’ve already been sick.” According to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 157 million people in the United States, or 47.4 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated against Covid. At least one dose has been given to 182.4 million people, or roughly 55% of the population. The pace of uptake decreased after a vigorous campaign this spring to get the Covid shots to Americans. As a result, state and local officials, as well as businesses, launched a variety of promotional campaigns to encourage vaccination. Nonetheless, some people are still hesitant. According to the CDC, over 1,000 counties in the United States had less than 30% of residents vaccinated as of last week. The increasing prevalence of the delta variation in the United States and around the world emphasizes the need for more people to get vaccinated. The variation, which was first found in India, has been demonstrated to make vaccines slightly less efficient, but still provide protection against serious disease. “Unless we can vaccinate more people, we expect to see greater transmission in these places,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday, referring to the nearly 1,000 counties in the United States with poor vaccination rates. “Preliminary data from the last six months suggests that 99.5 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the United States have happened in patients who have not been vaccinated,” she noted. “The agony and loss we are witnessing now could have been avoided almost totally.” Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a contributor to CNBC and a board member of Pfizer, a genetic testing startup. Tempus, Aetion Inc., a health-care technology business, and Illumina, a biotech corporation. He’s also a member of the “Healthy Sail Panel” for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean./nRead More

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