Pfizer board member Gottlieb says the Covid pandemic could be over in the U.S. by January

The Covid-19 pandemic could be over in the U.S. by the time President Biden’s workplace vaccine mandates take effect in early January, Pfizer board member Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday.

The vaccine requirements from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration take effect on Jan. 4 for any company with at least 100 employees. All affected workers must get either their second Moderna or Pfizer shot or one dose from Johnson & Johnson by that date or face regular testing for the virus.

“These mandates that are going to be put in place by Jan. 4 really are coming on the tail end of this pandemic,” said Gottlieb, who’s also a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. “By Jan. 4, this pandemic may well be over, at least as it relates to the United States after we get through this delta wave of infection. And we’ll be in a more endemic phase of this virus.”