Ronny Jackson: More COVID Shutdowns Shouldn't Be Needed

Former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, who was elected last week to represent Texas in the U.S. House, said Tuesday he thinks further economic shutdowns won't be necessary despite the quick growth of coronavirus in his state and elsewhere. 

"We're looking at the number of positive cases and the mortality rate and the hospitalizations have been pretty stable," Jackson told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo. "I think if we can get the vaccine out and we can vaccinate a large part of the population, that's going to have a huge impact on how the virus spreads."

He said there will be different approaches to the problem depending on whether President Donald Trump ends up remaining in office, but either way, he believes the country can "logically and safely" keep the economy open, and closures won't be necessary.

Meanwhile, the Texas Republican praised Trump for his "aggressive action" and for the Operation Warp Speed program for the news this week that Pfizer has developed a COVID-19 vaccine that is testing at more than 90% effective. 

"It gives us a lot of hope for what's to come," said Jackson. "Nobody else on the other side was talking about manufacturing, doing the research, and providing for the logistics all at the same time. That's never been done before. And the money that he dumped into this, almost $10 billion into vaccine development has paid off for us and we'll have a vaccine before the end of the year and it's going to have a huge impact on what happens this spring with this virus."

Meanwhile, it's vital to get people vaccinated, said Jackson. 

"It's going to lead us a long way toward getting herd immunity," he said. "When we have herd immunity and a large population of young people are not passing it from one to another, then older folks will quit getting the virus and stop being hospitalized and dying, so it's all tied together."

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