First U.S. shots in COVID-19 vaccine campaign coming Monday, Army general says

By Michael Erman and Carl O'Donnell

 

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in front of displayed Pfizer logo in this illustration taken, October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - The first shots in a massive U.S. COVID-19 vaccine campaign will be administered as early as Monday, with Pfizer Inc and partners aiming to start shipments across the hard-hit country on Sunday, an Army general organizing the rollout said.

 

Healthcare workers and elderly people in long-term care facilities are expected to be the main recipients of the first wave of 2.9 million shots this month, with healthcare worker inoculations as soon as Monday and nursing home residents by the end of next week, U.S. Army General Gustave Perna said on a Saturday press call.

 

Despite months of preparation, distributing and administering the vaccine to as many as 330 million recipients poses a major logistical challenge, he said. The vaccine has complex shipping requirements and must be stored at -70 Celsius.

 

"We have a lot of work to do. We are not taking a victory lap. We know road ahead of us will be tough," Perna said.

 

Pfizer's vaccine was authorized for use by U.S. regulators on Friday. Cases are surging in the United States, with thousands of deaths per day, while hospital intensive care units across the country are nearing capacity. More than 295,000 Americans have died of COVID-19.

 

Doses of the vaccine from U.S.-based Pfizer and German partner BioNTech will be delivered to 145 locations around the country on Monday, Perna said.

 

The remainder of the 636 delivery locations selected by U.S. states and territories will receive doses on Tuesday and Wednesday, he said, adding that every week going forward Pfizer will have more doses ready for distribution and administration.

 

Within three weeks, the vaccine program known as Operation Warp Speed should be able to get Pfizer's shots to any healthcare facility in the country, Perna said.

 

Pfizer is working with logistics companies United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp to distribute the vaccines. They must coordinate deliveries of doses with shipments of other products needed to store and administer vaccines, such as syringes, dry ice, and protective equipment for healthcare workers.

 

“The final mile is going to be the most difficult. Once it hits the hospital or nursing homes, they also have to keep the vaccine under temperature control,” said Cathy Morrow Roberson, a logistics consultant and former UPS analyst.

 

“This massive clock is ticking, there is no room for error,” she added.

 

More U.S. residents will be eligible in January, when those in the highest priority populations are expected to have had an opportunity to receive a vaccine.

 

With distribution imminent, top regulators sought to reassure Americans that the record fast pace was warranted and had not sacrificed safety.

 

"We worked quickly based on the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any other external pressure," U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during a press conference earlier in the day.

 

The United States on Friday evening granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine for people aged 16 and older. The immunization was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a late-stage trial.

 

It is the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the United States. Britain, Canada and three other countries have already authorized the vaccine.

 

The Trump administration has poured billions of dollars into developing vaccines and will manage the distribution and allocation to states. Authorities have said general availability of the vaccine is expected by April.

 

An advisory group to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Saturday to recommend the vaccine for patients 16 and over.

 

The FDA said the vaccine is safe for most Americans with allergies despite reports of severe adverse reactions in the UK in two patients who had a history of serious allergies.

 

(Reporting by Michael Erman in New York, additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington; Writing by Caroline Humer; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Peter Henderson and Tom Brown)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-12-13

 

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Excellent I’d be first in line if they allowed me to!!!

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

 The Trump administration has poured billions of dollars into developing vaccines and will manage the distribution and allocation to states. Authorities have said general availability of the vaccine is expected by April.

Thank you President Trump!

8 minutes ago, Tug said:

Excellent I’d be first in line if they allowed me to!!!

I would, too.

" U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said he will take Pfizer Inc’s new coronavirus vaccine if the Food and Drug Administration approves it and that he has confidence in the company and the government agency".

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-fauci/fauci-says-he-will-take-new-pfizer-vaccine-if-fda-approves-it-idUSKBN27Q2SU

 

 I like to witness that! 

 

The FDA has determined that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has met the statutory criteria for issuance of an EUA. The totality of the available data provides clear evidence that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine may be effective in preventing COVID-19.

 

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-key-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-first-covid-19#:~:text=The FDA has determined that,effective in preventing COVID-19.

A post has been removed.

If you alter a persons name to suit your own agenda expect your post to disappear

 

Also an off topic post and reply

Thailand will get the AstraZeneca vaccine.  The USA and their pfizer vaccine does not help us.  All good for those in the USA of course.  70% /230 million of citizens need the vaccine to rid the country of the virus. 

WIll be interesting to see if they can reach or surpass that 

1 hour ago, placeholder said:

Either it's a great achievement or it's not. Which is it?

 

2 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Thank you President Trump!

Your thanking him for the deaths he caused?

2 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Thank you President Trump!

What on earth for?for holding super spreader events?making proper safety protocols a political ploy having by tomorrow 300,000 dead btw more than all combat deaths all theaters all services ww2 in large part due to his utter failure to handle covid in a responsible manner imo it would be more appropriate to thank the folks that got it done under this epic failure of an administration 

https://abc7chicago.com/covid-19-vaccine-ready-covid-process/8673439/

COVID-19 vaccine: Scientists credit collaboration, prior research for speedy development

No corners cut in rush to produce coronavirus vaccine, medical experts say

3 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Thank you President Trump!

Not sure that President Trump had much to do with the vaccine.

Lets see who we should thank for the vaccine. The Germans for funding the research, or the Muslim couple of Turkish origin who headed the research and the research company, the Belgians for manufacturing it so far . . . 

5 minutes ago, Proboscis said:

Not sure that President Trump had much to do with the vaccine.

Lets see who we should thank for the vaccine. The Germans for funding the research, or the Muslim couple of Turkish origin who headed the research and the research company, the Belgians for manufacturing it so far . . . 

Worth a read:

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55041371

3 hours ago, Kelsall said:

Thank you President Trump!

Ah the alternative reality of the trumpies...........ignore and downplay a virus which has killed near on 300,000 Americans, take away funding from the CDC and disband the government department set up to deal with such events whenever they occurred, then want to claim some credit for the vaccine!

 

Unbelievable what some of these rubes want to believe, when in fact the ground work for the vaccine was laid down quite some years ago by companies undertaking R&D, and especially in the fields of cancer.

 

Furthermore the pharmaceutical companies laid the ground work and developed this vaccine with absolutely no help from any of the trump cronies.

 

I suppose it's just a pathetic attempt to try and gain some kudos for a dumb, lying, cheating president who has now been ousted, and who has done more damage to the USA than any other president in history.

 

Doesn't matter how the trumpies want to portray it, the facts are there for all to see, and how his supporters can see otherwise, is just a fact of life as to how some rubes will remain such. 

The far from minor fact that a lot of the Trump praising fans are neglecting to mention here is that the ONLY CV vaccine yet approved for the U.S., the Pfizer vaccine, was developed ENTIRELY separate from the Trump Admin's Warpspeed initiative. Pfizer deliberately chose to stay clear of that.  So to give the feds credit for Pfizer's success is more than a little misplaced.

 

"Pfizer did not accept federal funding to help develop or manufacture the vaccine, unlike front-runners Moderna and AstraZeneca.

 

Pfizer has distanced itself from Mr. Trump and Operation Warp Speed. In an interview on Sunday, Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president and the head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer, said, “We were never part of the Warp Speed,” adding, “we have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/was-the-pfizer-vaccine-part-of-the-governments-operation-warp-speed.html

 

Though to be fair and accurate, Pfizer does have a purchase agreement with the U.S. federal government in which they will be paid AFTER having supplied the contracted vaccines. But that's a different aspect from the feds being involved in the development of the Pfizer vaccine, which they were not.

 

Then of course, there's the equally inconvenient detail that now that it's been found that the Pfizer vaccine actually works, we learn the Trump Admin. passed up on offers from Pfizer to commit to buy MORE supplies of their vaccine that would have allowed a faster/broader rollout.

 

Trump Administration Passed on Chance to Secure More of Pfizer Vaccine

The pharmaceutical company offered the government a chance to lock in additional supplies before its vaccine was proved effective in clinical trials.

 

WASHINGTON — Before Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was proved highly successful in clinical trials last month, the company offered the Trump administration the chance to lock in supplies beyond the 100 million doses the pharmaceutical maker agreed to sell the government as part of a $1.95 billion deal over the summer.

 

But the administration, according to people familiar with the talks, never made the deal, a choice that now raises questions about whether the United States allowed other countries to take its place in line.

 

So yes... let's give credit... where credit is legitimately due.

12 hours ago, Tug said:

Excellent I’d be first in line if they allowed me to!!!

Sorry but that position is already filled by president Trump.

17 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Sorry but that position is already filled by president Trump.

 

No, I believe he's signed up for the "disinfectant" vaccine...  ????

 

Plus, why would he need or want a CV vaccine anyway... After all, in his opinion, the CV was just an overhyped "hoax" that was to have disappeared this past spring.... NOT.

 

 

Edited December 13, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Alright... credit where credit is due.... 3,000+ dead Americans per day and counting right now.

 

If the trends continue at these same rates, that will mean another 100,000+ dead Americans by the end of Trump's reign as president (+-37 days x 3,000 per day).

 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100klast7days

Edited December 13, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

Upon glancing at the title of the thread...I'm relieved it's not related to gunfire...Given, how that seems to be the norm now a days...

 

Wear a mask! I'd rather take Russia's vaccine, than Pfizers. But I probably won't have much options...

Trolling representation of the President-elect have been removed along with replies.