US expects 100 mil people vaccinated by Feb 2021

WASHINGTON – The United States hopes to have immunised 100 million people against Covid-19 by the end of February, a top official said yesterday, which is approximately 40% of the country’s adult population.

The push should start within weeks, when vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIH are expected to be approved.

Each of these requires two doses, the second after three weeks and four weeks, respectively.

“Between mid-December and the end of February, we will have potentially immunised 100 million people," Moncef Slauoi, scientific adviser to the government's Operation Warp Speed (OWS) programme told reporters.

This, he said, will cover the “at-risk” population comprising the elderly, healthcare workers and first responders.

There will be an “ample” amount of vaccine to immunise 3,000,000 residents of long-term care facilities, said the former pharmaceutical executive, who was recruited by President Donald Trump’s administration in May.

The rest will be enough to reach the bulk of health care workers, if states and other territories agree with federal recommendations to prioritise this population.

As production of the two vaccines expands, 20,000,000 will be reached in December, 30,000,000 in January and 50,000,000 in February, making 100,000,000 in total.

This figure, however, excludes other vaccines by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca-Oxford that are in the late stages of development.

Slaoui said both can produce results between the end of December and mid-January, paving the way for emergency approval by February if the US Food and Drug Administration gives the green light.

He added that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine may be evaluated solely on the basis of a large US clinical trial involving 15,000 people, and not with data from Britain and Brazil, where data has been marred by a dosage issue.

While the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved by Britain yesterday, the process is slower and more public in the US.

The FDA won’t grant an emergency use authorisation (EUA) before a public meeting of an advisory committee is held on December 10. For the Moderna vaccine, a similar meeting will occur on December 17.

Officials say that the logistics have been put in place to start distributing the vaccines, if approved, almost right away.

“When an EUA decision comes, distribution to the American people becomes immediate within 24 hours, that’s our goal,” said General Gus Perna, chief operating officer of OWS.

He is expecting to deliver the first doses on December 15. – AFP, December 3, 2020