(CNN) Lowering Covid-19 cases across the US isn't only critical to helping prevent another surge fueled by variants -- it also makes vaccines more likely to continue working effectively against mutations, one expert says. "The best thing we could possibly do to improve the chances that the vaccine will continue working as we're hoping it will, is to reduce cases as much as possible without having those reductions occur as a result of vaccine-derived immunity," Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and immunologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said during a Tuesday event. The US on Tuesday reported more than 59,500 new Covid-19 cases -- a far cry from the six-figure case totals it was reporting just a month ago. But experts warn that these infection numbers are still high and could see another uptick if Americans let down their guard.

Source: CNN February 17, 2021 08:09 UTC