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More people need to get vaccinated if the United States wants to prevent the spread of deadly variants this winter, says a top vaccine expert.

"Vaccines are our only way out of this," Paul Offit, MD, a member of the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, said on CNN. "Unless we vaccinate a significant percentage of the population before winter hits, you're going to see more spread and the creation of more variants, which will only make this task more difficult."

Offit, a professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine, acknowledged that deaths and infections have dropped since the start of the vaccination program in December. But with the number of people getting vaccinated on the decline, the summer lull could turn into another winter surge, he warned. For context, daily vaccinations have dropped from a peak of nearly 2.5 million people in mid-April to fewer than 400,000, The Hill reported.

Head over to Medscape to read the full story.