美国国立卫生研究院院长弗朗西斯·柯林斯博士周日表示，他认为疫苗需求可能会对减缓艾滋病的快速传播产生影响新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)并承认政治如何分化了公众对大流行缓解策略的看法。
“为什么关于疫苗或戴口罩的命令突然变成了你们政党的声明?我们不应该让这种事情发生。”柯林斯告诉美国广播公司“本周”主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯。
柯林斯继续说道:“来吧，美国——我们在政治上的两极分化令人难以置信，我们真的不需要在一种正在杀死人的病毒上两极分化。"我们应该尽一切努力拯救生命。"
周六是每日新增超过10万人的连续第四天新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)根据疾病控制和预防中心的数据，美国的病例。周五，美国创下最高纪录六个月来，新冠肺炎每日病例数超过12万例。
尽管超过50%的美国人完全接种了疫苗，而且根据疾控中心的数据，由于快速传播的三角洲变种，上周这一比例增加了25%，但一些州和县已经接种了疫苗重新实施缓解策略，例如屏蔽授权。
柯林斯起初没有直接回答他是否认为应该实施更多的疫苗授权，起初他说他庆祝当企业决定要求员工接种疫苗。
柯林斯说:“作为一个拥有4.5万名员工和承包商的美国国立卫生研究院的负责人，我很高兴看到总统坚持要求我们前进，要求接种疫苗，或者如果人们不愿意这样做，那么就定期检测，至少每周一两次，这将非常不方便。
柯林斯补充说:“我认为，当人们生命垂危时，我们应该尽可能利用一切公共卫生工具。
“这是你能得到的最接近肯定的回答。你显然相信疫苗授权会有所作为，”斯特凡诺普洛斯强调。
“我确实相信他们应该有所作为，”柯林斯回应道。“我明白这有时会引发各种阻力。但这难道不是一种耻辱吗?”
柯林斯在早些时候接受《今日美国》采访时表示，如果在疫苗广泛可用时有更多的人接种疫苗，目前由德尔塔变异病毒引发的疫情可能会得到缓解头版标题:“我们彼此都在失败。”
“恐怕我们真的不应该到达现在的位置，”柯林斯说。“在这方面，是的，我们正在失败。...现在我们正在付出可怕的代价。”
由于目前住院的儿童比大流行中的任何其他时候都多，斯特凡诺普洛斯问柯林斯三角洲变异是否对儿童更严重。
“我们没有确切的数据来证明，”柯林斯回应道。“但这是一种不仅传染性更强，而且可能更致命的病毒。”
随着新学年在全国范围内开始，柯林斯说，他将要求家长将口罩视为“救命的医疗设备”，并要求他们的孩子佩戴口罩。
柯林斯在接受Stephanopoulos采访时表示:“我们知道，12岁以下的孩子很可能会被感染，如果我们在学校里没有口罩，这种病毒会传播得更广。“这可能会导致学校爆发疫情，孩子们将不得不回到远程学习，这是我们真正想预防的事情。”
柯林斯补充说:“能够让孩子留在他们需要学习的地方，这是一个很小的代价。
虽然目前的疫苗在阻止高度传染性的德尔塔变种病毒传播方面有很高的效力，但柯林斯说，他担心“有一天会出现一种与最初的武汉病毒如此不同的变种病毒”，以至于它避开了目前的疫苗，需要迅速开发一种增强剂。
“防止这种情况发生的最好方法是减少感染的数量，因为突变体就是这样发生的。这是因为人们感染了这种病毒，它会稍微复制自己，然后你会得到更糟糕的东西，”柯林斯说。
在该国等待食品药品监督管理局全面批准新冠肺炎疫苗时，科林斯说，他一直与该机构保持密切联系，他们希望在下个月内发布全面授权。
“但与此同时，当人们在等待的时候——我知道这会有所帮助——请明确这一点，疫苗有令人难以置信的证据证明它们的安全性和有效性。他们反对三角洲。他们会救你的命，”柯林斯说。
Vaccine mandates would make a difference: NIH director
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said Sunday he believes vaccine requirements could make a difference in slowing the rapid spread ofCOVID-19and acknowledged how politics has polarized public opinion on pandemic mitigation strategies.
"Why is it that a mandate about a vaccine or wearing a mask suddenly becomes a statement of your political party? We never should have let that happen." Collins told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.
"Come on, America -- we're incredibly polarized about politics, we don't really need to be polarized about a virus that's killing people," Collins continued. "We ought to be doing everything we can to save lives."
Saturday marked the fourth consecutive day of more than 100,000 new dailyCOVID-19cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Friday, the U.S.recorded its highestdaily COVID-19 case count in six months, with more than 120,000 new cases reported.
And though more than 50% of Americans are fully vaccinated and that rate increased by 25% in the last week, according to the CDC, due to the rapidly spreading delta variant, some states and counties havereimplemented mitigation strategies, such asmask mandates.
Collins at first did not give a direct answer on whether he believed more vaccine mandates should be implemented, initially saying he celebrateswhen businesses decideto require vaccinations for employees.
"As a person who runs the National Institutes of Health with 45,000 employees and contractors, I am glad to see the president insisting that we go forward requiring vaccinations or if people are unwilling to do that, then regular testing, at least once or twice a week, which will be very inconvenient," Collins said.
"I think we ought to use every public health tool we can when people are dying," Collins added.
"That was about as close as a yes as you could get. You clearly believe that vaccine mandates could make a difference," Stephanopoulos pressed.
"I do believe they should make a difference," Collins responded. "I understand how that can sometimes set off all kinds of resistance. But isn't that a shame?"
If more people had gotten vaccinated when vaccines became widely available, the current surge fueled by the delta variant could have been mitigated, Collins said earlier in the interview, responding to a USA TODAYfront pageheadline: "We are failing one another."
"I'm afraid we should not really have ever gotten in the place we are," Collins said. "In that regard, yes, we are failing. ... Now we're paying the terrible price."
As more children are currently hospitalized than at any other point in the pandemic, Stephanopoulos asked Collins whether the delta variant is more serious for children.
"We don't have rigorous data to show for sure," Collins responded. "But this is a virus that is not only more contagious, but potentially more lethal."
With the school year set to begin across the nation, Collins said he would ask parents to think about masks as a "life-saving medical device" and ask their children to wear them.
"We know that kids under 12 are likely to get infected and if we don't have masks in schools, this virus will spread more widely," Collins told Stephanopoulos. "It will probably result in outbreaks in schools and kids will have to go back to remote learning which is the one thing we really want to prevent."
"It's a small price to pay for being able to keep kids where they need to be to learn," Collins added.
While the current vaccines have high efficacy in stopping the spread of the highly contagious delta variant, Collins said he worries about "the day when a variant arises that is so different from the original Wuhan virus" that it evades the current vaccines and requires the quick development of a booster shot.
"The best way to prevent that from happening is to reduce the number of infections because that's how mutants happen. It's because people are infected with the virus and it copies itself slightly wrong and then you get something that's even worse," Collins said.
As the country awaits the Food and Drug Administration's full approval of the COVID-19 vaccines, Collins said he has been in close contact with the agency and they hope to issue full authorization within the next month.
"But meanwhile, while people are waiting for that -- and I understand that would help -- please be clear about this, the vaccines have incredible evidence for their safety and effectiveness. They work against delta. They will save your life," Collins said.
