Bechara Choucair, MD, COVID-19 vaccinations coordinator for the White House, sat down with rolling out’s Health IQ to debunk COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and to speak to parents preparing to send their children back to school amid the ongoing pandemic.
What should we all know right now about the COVID Delta variant?
We know that the Delta variant is much more contagious than any other variant we’ve seen before and the original virus. A couple of months ago, only 1% of the infections were caused by the Delta variant. Today, more than 90% of the infections are caused by the Delta variant. So we’d want to make sure that people are getting vaccinated so they can protect themselves, their families, and their communities.
What do we need to be able to decipher about COVID misinformation?
The three vaccines we have here in the United States are extremely safe and very effective. And they’re particularly effective at preventing you from getting severe consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalizations and deaths. It’s unfortunate to see the scale of misinformation. We’ve administered more than 350 million shots so far here in the United States alone. And we have more than 195 million people in this country with at least one shot.
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