United States government is planning to vaccinate Americans in December health secretary Alex Azar set on Tuesday, Nov. 10. However, vaccination will start in phases, and mass vaccination will begin only in April 2021. Pfizer is developing a vaccine with German partner BioNTech SE.
The Pfizer vaccine was claimed to be 90% effective against COVID-19 based on its large trial results. It is expecting the safety data to be released next week. Afterward, the food and drug administration can apply for emergency use authorization.
Vaccine procurement
After the FDA’s authorization, the United States will receive 20 million of the Pfizer vaccine per month. Further, the HSS will be procuring supplies at the end of November.
The United States has a 1.95 billion dollar contract for 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This will be enough to vaccinate and inoculate 50 million people. Additionally, there is an option to acquire 500 million more vaccines.
Inoculations to begin
The final decision to begin inoculations will begin after a close look at the vaccine efficacy data. The inoculations will begin with the elderly in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. This is after that health care workers and first responders will be vaccinated by the end of January. Further, mass vaccination will begin only in March and April.
More vaccines
The United States healthcare anticipates that there will be more vaccines coming to protect against COVID-19. Moreover, this includes Moderna, which will announce its interim results of a large trial of its experimental vaccine at the end of November.
“By the end of March, early April, we expect to have enough for every American who would like to be vaccinated,” said Azar.
Antibody-drug distribution
The United States government would start the distribution of Eli Lilly and Co’s antibody treatment this week. It will begin with the areas which have the highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and overall cases.
Infusion is administering the treatment and has received a EUA on Monday, 9th November. The process which was brought about in distributing remdesivir. Further, this week the agency is going to ship more than 79,000 doses of antibody therapy. Texas, California, and Illinois are going to be the largest receivers.
The United States has purchased three lakh doses of the treatment for this year. Additionally, it has an option to buy another 650,000 next year. Fauci described Lily’s treatment as an important first step in developing and distributing interventions given early in the course of the disease.
“We’ll ensure equitable distribution, and we’ll work tightly with our governors,” Azar said.
Image courtesy of VP Brothers/Shutterstock