The United States could start administering COVID-19 vaccines among its prioritized citizens by Friday amid fast-rising numbers of new infections across the country.
In a report by NBC News, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be voting to give authorization for emergency use for Pfizer Inc./BioNtech SE on Thursday, and Operation Warp Speed officials had stated that as soon as it gets that, it would immediately start sending out the COVID-19 vaccines.
This announcement from an FDA adviser reiterated what Operation Warp Speed officials had told reporters last week that COVID-19 vaccines could get approved as early as this week, when they outlined their most recent plans for the initial distribution of the vaccines, as stated on the Fierce Healthcare website.
Operation Warp Speed is an initiative spearheaded by health and human services departments and tasked with producing and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines, which is hoped to start the end of the pandemic.
Other countries are also preparing to start administering COVID-19 vaccines, with the United Kingdom set to begin in the week of December 14.
On the other hand, Moscow already started administering COVID-19 vaccines to its frontliners on Saturday following an order issued by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
Also Read: Possible Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccines: What You Need to Know
In the U.S., President Donald Trump's administration has set a goal of administering COVID-19 vaccines to 100 million people in the country by February. It would cover all workers in the healthcare industry and those at high risk of the infection.
This is welcome news with the fast-rising numbers of COVID-19 infections across all U.S. states. The outbreak in New York City is becoming worse on a day to day basis. At the same time, North Carolina tallied its highest number of infections and hospitalizations as well.
According to a report by Bloomberg, it is basically the same scenario with 32 states reporting the continuing rise in the number of new infections in just the last two weeks.
The state of New York has just had its second straight day of reporting more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases after tallying 10,761, the highest levels since the infection peaked back in April. The state's hospitalization also showed a hundred percent increase to 4,318.
Aside from New York, also recording its highest since the start of the outbreak is Alabama, which has tallied 3,390 new cases. The state has seen numbers going over 3,000 for the fifth straight day and has been reporting no less than 50 deaths per week since the number of COVID-19 infections has spiked.
Operation Warp Speed officials are now in the middle of preparing to ship out the initial doses to several states within 24 to 48 hours of FDA handing down approval of emergency use for COVID-19 vaccines.
While the states' respective governors have been given the authority to decide who among their constituents will get the initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended that healthcare workers and nursing-home residents be vaccinated first.
Related Article: Australia Targets to Complete Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Review by January 2021
