Dr. Monsef Slaoui, the chief advisor of Operation Warp Speed, had stated that if a COVID-19 vaccination already has an Emergency Use Authorization, it may be as fast as a day in possession of the people.
Shipping of vaccines upon approval
Dr. Slaoui mentioned on a Sunday interview that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the CDC stated that guidelines would be made on who would be vaccinated first once the approval has been authorized. The details, he added, would be decided by the Department of Health within each state, indicating that it could first be frontline medical personnel or even probably those at very high risk.
Dr. Slaoui explained: "We cannot move the vaccine doses prior to the Emergency Use Authorization." He added that "Within 24-hours of the approval, the vaccine will be moving and located in the areas where each state will have told us where they want the vaccine doses."
Moreover, an advisory board from the FDA is expected to assemble on December 10. Dr. Slaoui stated that the vaccinations could start within the second day of authorization if vaccines have been sent within 24 hours of approval. This December, 20 million vaccines are anticipated, with 30 million every month after that.
Latest statistics suggesting their vaccines have been more than 90 percent successful without significant side effects were announced by Pfizer and Moderna last week. The CEO of Pfizer reportedly said that within a few hours of obtaining clearance, the company expects to send its vaccine.
Return to Normal Life as Americans Are Vaccinated
Slaoui stated that for true herd immunity, around 70 percent of the United States population would have had to be vaccinated when questioned by Jake Tapper of CNN about how many American citizens will have to be vaccinated for lives to recover back to normal and when that will begin.
"That is likely to happen in the month of May or something like that, based on our plans," he stated regarding the topic of returning to normal. "I really hope and look forward to seeing that the level of negative perception of the vaccine decreases and people's acceptance increases. That is going to be critical to help us. Most people need to be immunized before we can go back to a normal life," he added.
On Friday, Pfizer requested an emergency authorization application with the Food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 vaccination. The application comes after a Phase 3 clinical trial confirmed that the Pfizer vaccine was 95 percent successful in controlling the COVID-19 disease.
Slaoui had stated that "hopefully, the first people will be immunized across the United States, across all states in all the areas where the state departments of health will have told us where to deliver the vaccines," on December 11 or 12.
With Pfizer having formally requested the FDA to render emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine product, it had undergone a process that could lead to minimal first shots as early as December.
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