ABC's Dr. Jennifer Ashton on COVID-19 variant, vaccine rollout, Vitamin D treatment

ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton answers questions about the latest COVID-19 headlines, including the COVID-19 variant, the vaccine rollout and whether Vitamin D has the potential to help COVID-19 patients.

We're joined now by ABC News chiefmedical correspondent Dr JenniferAshton today to talk about the lateston Cove in 19 in the United States.Thanks for doing this, doctor.

Let'sstart with the latest on this newvariant that's now showing up in theUnited States.

What are we learningabout it, and how easily does it spread?Well, first, let's take a big pictureview here.

Viruses mutate for a living.So simply the announcement that there'sa new variant orm or this virus hasmutated at least 23 times since webecame introduced to it.

Not everymutation or variant makes it worse, butthere is some evidence in the UK thatthis new variant is more transmissible,much more transmissible by about 50 to70% Scientists still looking into that.But if that is the case, that is amassive concern here, just based onshare numbers, more people infectedwill mean more hospitalizations andmore deaths.

Eso that's a concern.They're also gonna be looking atwhether or not the new variant is stillsusceptible to the vaccine or tonatural immunity for people who havehad other strains.

Other variants ofSARS.

Kobe, too.

So still.

Ah lot toelearn.

Still a lot of unknowns, butthere are some concerning features here.To be sure you touched on this doctorAshton, about whether the currentvaccines might work on this new variantthat still remains to be seen.

Is thatright?Well, right now, there is no indicationthat it doesn't, but they are activelylooking at that.

And that brings intothe forefront.

Ah, bigger question,Which is that here in the United States,we're doing the genetic sequencing.It's called, which is really looking atthe genetic fingerprint off the virusesthat we are seeing less than 1% of allspecimens.

So it's hard to respond tosomething if you don't know it's there.So when you hear about isolated casereports of this variant has been foundin this state or that state, everyinfectious disease, public health andepidemiologist that I've spoken to hassaid, if it's in the UK, if it's inCanada, it's here and likely in verylarge numbers.

We just aren't doing thekind of surveillance that we can pickup on that.Some people in priority groups arestarting to get their second dose ofthe vaccine right now, but the rollouthas seen some bumps nationally.

How?How could those be smoothed out?Well, we've been saying this for awhile.

You know, there's there was thescience and the timeline for the forthe discovery of a vaccine and then themanufacturing, which was done in Sirisand parallel, um, to save time.

Andthen there was the rollout, and thesteps in the roll out not only involvedshipping and distribution butadministration.

And to be crystal clear,shipping and distribution butadministration.

And to be crystal clear,we need to ramp up the pace and do itquickly if we're going to make a dentwe need to ramp up the pace and do itquickly if we're going to make a dentin the approximately 300,000 new casesof co vid that we're seeing in thiscountry every single day.

So, yes, it'simportant to have those groups andthose phases, but there's a lot ofvaccine right now sitting in a lot offreezers around the country that couldbe going into people's arms who wanted,and we need to figure out a way tooperationalize that system in a muchbetter and more efficient way and do itquickly.

And Dr Ashton were just comingoff the holiday season of course, andthere are concerns about that lag.Seeing a spike two weeks after theholidays or Moorhouse, How long beforeyou think we might see that holidaysurge?Well, there's always that lag eso.

It'stypically around two weeks afterexposure that you start to see thosenumbers go up.

But again, we're talkingabout an incubation period of up to 14days.

People who traveled last week, um,should either be tested or quarantineor both.

Do as much as you can do more,not less, because there is so much coveit right now in in the community, inhouseholds and people getting sick.

Andthen you talk about another 2 to 3 weeklag time for hospitalizations and thendeaths after that.

So we may not seethe true effect and impact off holidaytravel and get togethers andcelebrations until the end of January.And where we are right now is incritical condition.

So it's hard toimagine those numbers getting worse.Yeah, frustrating, indeed.

Can I askyou about vitamin D and co vid thanseeing some medical headlines about it?Ah, couple of things that peoplecatching it seemed to be low andvitamin D, and also that vitamin D canhelp people fight it off.So we've talked about that a lot on ourshow.

GM A.

Three What you need to knowfrom the beginning of this pandemic,there are clinical trials ongoing and alot of research on going about theeffects.

Possible effects of Vitamin Dthree on co vid There is existing dataabout the vitamins effects on reducingthe risk of other respiratoryinfections, Um, in terms of the way itreduces inflammation and improves ourimmune function.

But right now there isno verdict, no official recommendationthat vitamin D can prevent or treatCove in 19.

What we do know is that alot of people who have died of Covert19 are also by association in groupsthat tend to have low levels.

So blackand brown people, people who are obese,the elderly on DSO.

We have to make ourobservation and association in medicineand science first before we start to goto cause and effect.

And right nowthere's no existing causation thatrecommends any kind of connectionbetween vitamin D three and covert 19.Prevention or treatment Got it one lastquestion.

You talk about there being somuch cove it in the country right now.And now this variant strain and sort ofthe bumps in the in the vaccine rollout.

I think a lot of us in the generalpublic were looking ahead to, you know,maybe early summer of things sort ofnormalizing.

Is this just gonna extendthat timeline?You know, no one has a crystal ball,and I'm included in that.

I speak to DrAnthony Fauci on a regular basis andother top public health officials.

And,you know, right now it's it's justpremature to look too far down the roadwhen we have a situation right now inthe present that we need to address onDSO much needs toe happen between nowand then.

So as people try to get theirvaccines right now, just control whatyou can control, which is meaningpostpone or delay or rescheduleanything that's not essential right now.You don't want to take any chances atthis point.

Especially with the vaccineso close for so many people.

So close.Indeed.

Doctor Ashton.

Thank you somuch for your time this afternoon.

Weappreciate it.Thanks for having me