Pandemic could soon end, health expert says [Video]

• Former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb said that the U.S. could see an end to the pandemic by early next year.
• He said that the current tools available make it more possible to combat the disease.
• He predicts that there will be a shift from a pandemic phase to a “more endemic phase” after the nation overcomes the delta wave of infection.

Scott Gottlieb, the former chief of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said that the end of the pandemic is in sight for the U.S.

Gottlieb, who is also a board member for Pfizer, discussed the company’s antiviral COVID-19 pill during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” The pill had reduced the risk of hospitalizations and deaths due to coronavirus by 89 percent.

Gottlieb told CNBC that thanks to the “overwhelming toolbox” we have now to battle the disease, “the end of the end of the pandemic, at least as it relates to the United States, is in sight.”

He noted that the majority of adults in the U.S. have also been fully vaccinated. Of the total U.S. population, about 60 percent has been fully vaccinated.

He predicts that the U.S. could see the pandemic end by early January. After the nation overcomes the ongoing delta wave of infection, the virus will shift from the pandemic phase to a “more endemic phase.”

Gottlieb said, “These mandates that are going to be put in place by Jan. 4 really are coming on the tail end of this pandemic. By Jan. 4, this pandemic may well be over.”

January 4 is the Biden administration’s deadline for U.S. companies with 100 employees or more to have their staff fully vaccinated or conduct regular testing.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the current seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases has slightly dropped from the previous week to just above 70,000.

Source: The Hill