Short Wave - A Vaccination Update And The CDC's Latest Guidance On Masks

Episode Date: May 4, 2021

The rate of vaccination in the U.S. continues to slow. Maddie Sofia talks with NPR health correspondent Allison Aubrey about that and what can be done to get more people vaccinated. Also, making sense of the CDC's latest mask guidance. Have questions about the latest coronavirus headlines? Email us at [e-mail] and we might cover it on a future episode.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey everyone, Maddie Safaya, back from a little bit of vacation here with NPR health correspondent Alison Aubrey. Hi, Allison. Hey there, Maddie. Welcome back from Vake. Hope you had a good break. It's good to be back. Okay.

So you are here, like you have been, these last couple of weeks, with a rundown of some of the latest COVID-19 news. Yeah, today on the show, we're going to talk about the vaccination progress that the country has made and the science. behind some of the CDC's new guidance on masks. That's coming up on Shortwave, the Daily Science podcast from NPR. Okay, Alison Aubrey, so before we get to what's happening here in the U.S., let's briefly acknowledge the dire situation in India. Last Friday, India recorded more than 400,000 new cases in a single day, a new global record. Yeah, it is a terrible situation there, Maddie.

NPR was reported on the shortages of hospital beds, of medical oxygen, respirators, vaccine doses. You know, we've become accustomed to hearing Dr. Anthony Fauci talk about the situation in the U.S., but he recently spoke to the Indian Express. He said the country should consider a temporary shutdown to get its outbreak under control. I mean, literally locked down so that you wind up not having more spread. And no one likes to lock down the country. Well, that's the problem if you do it for six months.

But if you do it just for a few weeks, you could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak. So that just speaks to how serious the situation is there. Yeah. And, you know, Alison, we've talked about this on the pod before. But in order to truly get the pandemic under control, it needs to be under control everywhere. You know, this virus does not stay put. I mean, for example, there's a variant circulating in India now, which has shown up in the U.S. we're hearing a lot about it, especially in Michigan.

I mean, how much of a concern is that? Well, you know, this variant adds to the list of variants in the U.S. Maddie. I mean, it's another one that is believed to be more contagious, though this variant alone cannot explain why India is in such a bad situation now. I mean, so many factors there, including really a lack of social distancing, crowded public events, including election rallies where people are not distancing, not masking, and very low levels of vaccination. So, I mean, should we be more concerned about this variant than the other variants already circulating here in the U.S.? That's unclear at this point.

Here's virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan and Georgetown University. We need to stay ahead of all the variants. We need to not only keep up vaccination, but we also need to be mindful of the measures that we need to continue to be taking to reduce our exposure risk. And beginning today, Maddie, the U.S. will restrict travel from India to the U.S. given the rapid increase in cases in that country. And Rasmussen says restricting travel may help keep some coronavirus cases out of the U.S. But since the variant is already here, what's most important is getting more people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Right, right. Okay. So how's that going? Well, President Biden has pointed to the success so far. his goal of administering 200 million shots during the first 100 days of his administration was met. Right now, about 56% of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose. But in recent days, the rate of vaccination has slowed down a bit, about 10%. I mean, part of this is hesitancy. Part of it is lack of convenience or access. Here's White House chief of staff Ron Claim speaking on CBS over the weekend.

We've got a lot of work left to do. We do want to make it easier and more convenient for the next group of people to get the shot. You know, Alison, I wanted to ask you about this because I'm trying to figure out how to think about the rate of vaccination. Like, it makes sense to me that the rate would slow because there are less people who need to be vaccinated. And, you know, within a few months, we've gotten 55% of adults, you know, at least one shot. So that actually seems kind of good to me. How should I think about it? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, this is a huge success. I mean, that should not be. understated. A year ago, Operation Warp Speed hadn't even been announced yet. I mean, the speed with which the vaccines were developed, it's really just mind-blowing. So what to make of this, you know, recent slowdown. I think the reason we're hearing about it is because it is clear that there is some hesitancy out there with a new variance circulating. If the U.S. doesn't get more people vaccinated, you know, we run the risk of losing ground again. And look, the virus can't mutate. if it's not replicating. So it is just very important to get more people vaccinated. Yeah. Okay,

okay, right. I mean, yeah, like you said, the less virus circulating, the less chance it has to mutate producing more variants. Exactly. So, Alison, how are we trying to speed this up? How is the U.S. trying to address this? You know, in a lot of ways. I mean, instead of waiting for people to come to vaccination sites, increasingly, vaccinators are going to the people. I spoke to Dr. Jamie Meyer. She's an infectious disease, Dr. Yale Medicine, and she's been very involved at vaccine clinics there where they also have a bunch of mobile clinics going out into communities to make it more convenient, more accessible.

You know, she says for people who remain hesitant, it's important to take time to answer their questions. And, you know, there are a lot of issues that come up. There's this issue of people skipping their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. You know, what she tells people is it's important to go ahead and get that second dose. At least two weeks after your first vaccine of Pfizer and Moderna, you do have significant protection from COVID. But we don't know how long that protection lasts.

And it's not as much protection as you could get if you got your second shot. Right. So if you want the most thing for your buck, if you want the fullest protection possible, then you come back for the second shot. Alison, this is certainly a most bang for your buck situation. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Okay. Okay. So I know that there's some polling that suggests more hesitancy among some Republicans and among people in rural areas. What's being done to address that? Well, I've spoken to some doctors in rural areas, small towns who tell me that one thing they hear from patients is, I don't want the government to tell me what to do. And for folks,

like this, they're not necessarily going to volunteer to go to a mass vaccination site. I spoke to Dr. David Field. He's in practice in Bismarck, North Dakota. We also heard from him on the pod last week. He says people tend to trust their primary care doctors. So he has a lot of one-on-one conversations with his patients, which does help. But he says a fair amount of hesitancy remains. The atmosphere is that they're not thinking that getting a vaccine is the thing to do. Some of that tends to be some of the independence that we have here in North Dakota. And it's almost a cultural thing. And that independence, unfortunately, gave us the highest rate of infection

and the highest death rate in the world for a period of time. Now, he's referring to a period last fall. Things are much better there now. But the point being is that when a state or region is slow to respond, whether it's with a mask policy or getting people vaccinated, this can work against public health. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Well, you know, speaking of mask guidance, I want to talk to you about some of the guidance that recently came from the CDC.

Sure. The CDC updated its guidance on masking. The big picture take home is that if you are vaccinated and you are outdoors in many, many situations, you can take off that mask. I mean, to be specific, fully vaccinated people, according to the CDC, can go unmasked when they're outdoors exercising. small groups or eating outside at a restaurant. However, if you are in a crowded outdoor event, the CDC still says it is best to wear a mask. Right. And the CDC also laid out what unvaccinated people could feel safe doing outside. Exercising outdoors with members of their own household or small outdoor gatherings with others who are vaccinated. But then, I don't know, Alison,

the guidance gets kind of complicated from there. You know, I'd say that the guidance gets technical. I mean, they spell out specific scenarios where it's okay or not okay to go on masked or do an activity. And, you know, I think the challenge here is people don't want to have to review a detailed chart every time they walk out their door, right? I mean, the CDC is trying to strike this balance between keeping the messaging simple and giving a level of granular detail that is science-based. And sometimes this is hard to do. Right. I mean, personally, I will say communicating risk is complicated, right? It's not a binary.

But my main criticism of this guidance is there isn't enough explanation of the science behind it. Maddie, this is a science podcast and you want more science? How dare you? Well, I'm just saying I want to talk about some of the reasons behind these guidelines, you know, instead of trying to memorize a weird chart. Let's do it. Let's do it. All right, I'll start. So vaccinated folks are at substantially less risk of getting COVID.

And the risk of having severe disease or dying from COVID once your vaccine. is dramatically reduced or eliminated in most cases. And that's why the guidance is so much looser for vaccinated folks than unvaccinated folks. And when a fully vaccinated person goes outside, that reduces their risk even more, which is why my neighbors are going to have to see my whole face soon, Allison. I am sure they've been waiting for this. I say that tongue in cheek, but really, aren't we all ready to sort of engage with people again? And to do it outside, I mean, there's a reason why being outdoors is a lot safer than indoors.

I mean, think about it. When you're outside, the air is constantly circulating. The virus does not have a chance to accumulate in the outdoor air. As one scientist has described it, it's kind of like putting a drop of dye into the ocean. It's going to be diluted very quickly. Right. I mean, an easy thing to think about in every scenario is how can we cut down on sharing air with people around us. You know, when we're indoors, that could mean opening a window or running an air purifier,

that kind of stuff. Right. And the guidance also states that everyone, including fully vaccinated, people should still wear a mask indoors in public spaces because the risk is much higher. And that's partially because the virus is still circulating and a lot of people are, you know, not yet vaccinated. I know this bums some people out, but I want to just say this. Realize that this is not Forever. I mean, CDC director, Dr. Wilensky says, as more people get vaccinated, cases continue to drop, they will update the guidance again. Right. And anytime we talk about vaccines, Alison, I just have to say it, you know, these vaccines were designed to prevent people from getting really sick with COVID. And that's what they do and do well. I mean, for me, you know,

like not being hospitalized or dying is a pretty damn good motivator for getting a vaccine, you know? I will not fight with you on that one. And, you know, vaccination is the, the best chance at protecting all of us from the virus and really at putting this pandemic behind us. All right, Alison, thank you for coming by with this update. We appreciate you. It was great to be here. Thanks, Maddie. Today's episode was produced by Thomas Liu, edited by Jane Greenhalsh and Viet Leigh, and fact-checked by Rasha Rady. I'm Maddie Safaya. Thanks for listening to Shortwave, the Daily Science podcast from NPR. A few years ago, a website popped up in Stockton, California, and conspiracy theory

started ramping way up. And it's been funded by conservative movement underneath the table. And I was like, oh my gosh, you guys, people really believe this. What happens when the local news outlet isn't fact-checking conspiracy theories? Maybe encouraging them. Listen now from NPR's Invisibilia podcast.