Dr. Peter Hotez told CNBC that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new covid masking guidelines are “absolutely necessary” to combat delta variant and swelling cases, it may be an alternative to wearing masks indoors are.
“There may be a way around this, and it could be the third vaccination,” said Hotez, co-director of the vaccine development center at Texas Children’s Hospital.
The vaccines are currently proving that they can withstand symptomatic illnesses as well as serious illnesses, intensive care and hospitalization. However, Hotez noted that the vaccines “don’t hold up as well” when it comes to stopping asymptomatic transmission because the Delta variant is so highly contagious.
New data shows that people infected with the Delta strain can carry up to 1,000 times more virus in their nasal passages than those infected with the original strain.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday that recent studies show that those vaccinated who become infected with Covid have as much viral load as the unvaccinated, which allows them to pass the virus on to others.
Hotez told The News with Shepard Smith that booster vaccination could increase virus-neutralizing antibodies in vaccinated people, and this is important because it could help stop asymptomatic transmission.
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