vials with Covid-19 Vaccine stickers attached, with the logo of US
pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on November 17, 2020. JUSTIN TALLIS
/ AFP
The United States plans to distribute 6.4 million doses
of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the first week after it
is cleared for emergency use, which is likely next month, officials
said Tuesday.
A committee of the Food and Drug Administration meets on
December 10 to decide whether to green light the medicine, with the
US confronted by soaring numbers of deaths and new cases.
Latest figures on Tuesday showed that the country had recorded a
total of 259,600 Covid deaths and 12.5 million cases — with over
2,000 deaths and 167,000 new cases in just the last 24 hours.
General Gustave Perna, chief operations officer for the
government’s Operation Warp Speed, told reporters some 40 million
doses of vaccine would be available by the end of December.
That figure includes another vaccine developed by Moderna and
the National Institutes for Health, which announced some
preliminary efficacy results last week and is also close to
applying for emergency approval.
The Pfizer vaccine has ultra-cold long-term storage requirements
of -70 degrees Celsius, and the company has developed special
containers with dry ice to keep it cool for up to 15 days.
Perna said that 64 jurisdictions across the US — including the
50 states, territories like the capital Washington and Puerto Rico
and Indian reservations — received their allocation numbers on
Friday.
The amount they receive will be proportionate to their
population size.
The federal government will issue recommendations for who should
be prioritized — likely the elderly, high-risk, and frontline
workers — but local authorities will make the final decision for
themselves.
Vaccinations will begin in retirement homes within 48 hours of
the emergency approval, health secretary Alex Azar said. The
government has partnered with CVS Health for the retirement home
program.
AFP