BUFFALO, N.Y. — A new study came out Wednesday that looks at vaccines and how well they work against the new COVID-19 variants. We wanted to see what that means for people who have already gotten the vaccine or are able to get it soon.
For answers, we went to Dr. Thomas Russo, the chief of infectious diseases at the University at Buffalo.
"If we extrapolate the findings from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to the vaccines that are widely used in the United States at this time, the Pfizer and the Moderna RNA vaccines, both of those vaccines actually demonstrate greater efficacy against non-variant strains than the Johnson and Johnson vaccine," Dr. Russo said.
"So, I would expect, though it's not quite clear if these vaccines will have decreased efficacy similar to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, it seems highly likely that they'll protect against serious disease, hospitalizations, and bad outcomes from infections due to these variants."
He says that it is critical between now and when we get the optimal number of people vaccinated that we're extremely rigorous with our public health measures -- the hand washing, mask wearing, and social distancing -- to keep the number of COVID-19 cases down.
"At this point, I don't think we need to panic. I think it's highly likely that our vaccines will protect us from serious disease and that it's critical that we get people vaccinated as soon as possible not only to protect from these variants, but the other widely circulating strains of Sars-coV-2 that exist in our country at this time," he says.
Dr. Russo says we still have a lot to learn about the variants and that it's important to continue studying them.
"The degree of protection might not be as great as the initial studies, but it's almost certain that it will significantly protect us against serious disease, hospitalizations, and bad outcomes which is absolutely the most critical factor here," Dr. Russo said.
"If we could convert, you know, this new Sars-coV-2 virus from a potentially lethal disease to the common cold, I think we're okay with that. And, I think that's the most critical thing to keep in mind."
Dr. Russo says it is estimated that herd immunity will be reached when 75 to 80 percent of Americans get vaccinated. He is hoping that comes this summer.