Coronavirus Vaccines
US could start immunisation drive as early as next week
FDA working to rapidly authorise emergency use of vaccine; plans in place for distribution
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A screenshot from a video by United Parcel Service showing freezer units being unpacked and tested in anticipation of the FDA's approval of the emergency use request for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
WASHINGTON • The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday it was working rapidly to issue an emergency use authorisation for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, with the first Americans set to be immunised as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said regulatory authorisation should come within days.
The agency has also notified the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and Operation Warp Speed so that they can execute their plans for timely vaccine distribution, it said in a statement.
A panel of outside advisers to the FDA voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, paving the way for the agency to authorise the shot for a nation that has lost more than 290,000 lives to Covid-19.
The committee had voted 17 to four that the known benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine outweighed the risks of taking the shot for individuals aged 16 and older, with one member of the panel abstaining.
"This is a historic moment," Dr Eric Dickson, chief executive of UMass Memorial Health Care, who was not on the advisory panel, said after the vote.
He called the vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech "the best solution to get us out of our current situation and help us save lives".
Pfizer had asked that the two-dose vaccine be approved for use by people aged between 16 and 85.
Healthcare workers, first responders and nursing home residents are expected to receive the first doses.
Preparations for the vaccine roll-out were in full swing.
Delivery giants United Parcel Service and FedEx are on stand-by to ship millions of doses to distribution staging areas under contract with the federal government, giving top priority to the vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccines require storage in ultra-cold freezer units and must be prepared for injection and given quickly once thawed, posing special challenges to medical authorities.
In spite of these latest moves towards US government approval of a vaccine, a top coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden delivered a stern holiday message to Americans on Thursday - "no Christmas parties" - and warned that they face a Covid-19 siege for weeks to come.
"The next three to six weeks at minimum... are our Covid weeks," Dr Michael Osterholm, a member of Mr Biden's coronavirus advisory board, told CNN.
"It won't end after that, but that is the period right now where we could have a surge upon a surge upon a surge."
Dr Osterholm stressed that it would be several months before the nation sees widespread availability of vaccines.
He said sizeable quantities of vaccines would not be available to the public at large before March or April.
Dr Osterholm's admonition came as coronavirus caseloads soared, straining healthcare systems in cities and small towns across the country.
He urged Americans to do their utmost to slow the contagion by limiting social interactions to members of their immediate households, and above all: "No Christmas parties."
He added: "There is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now."
REUTERS
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