Bloomberg reported on December 14 that people familiar with the matter said that U.S. President Trump and other senior officials will be vaccinated against the newly approved coronavirus vaccine within a few days as part of a plan to ensure government continuity during the epidemic.
John Ullyot, spokesman of the National Security Council, confirmed the plan in a statement late Sunday. Key personnel identified as essential for all three branches of government will receive a vaccine, and vaccinations may begin as soon as Monday.
Within the next 10 days, the personnel concerned will be vaccinated in batches to ensure that staff do not have possible side effects at the same time.
On the 12th local time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially approved the Pfizer/BioNTech emergency license application for the coronavirus vaccine.
The FDA said that the vaccine is suitable for adults over 16 years old, and the results of three trials show that its effectiveness rate is 95%. It is arranged that the first batch of 2.9 million doses of vaccine this month will be given priority to medical workers and elderly people who live in care facilities for a long time.
Senior White House officials will vaccinate against the U.S. public against the coronavirus
According to CNN on the 13th, the first batch of coronavirus vaccines in the United States will arrive in all 50 states in the United States on Monday (14th). Senior U.S. health officials said they hoped that medical staff would start vaccinating vaccines immediately.
Previously, the coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech passed the final approval barrier: Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accepted the Immunization Advisory Committee on the 12th. The recommendation of the Council is that the vaccine can be administered to people aged 16 and above, which means that it can now be marketed in the United States.
In a statement issued on the 13th, Redfield announced that he had accepted the recommendation of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization (ACIP), saying that the first batch of vaccines will be vaccinated to the public “as early as Monday (14th).” “This is the next step we’re doing to protect the American people, reduce the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and restore our lives and our country to some normalcy,” he said.
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Stephen Hahn, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, also said that his “greatest hope and desire” is to start vaccination on Monday. In an interview with CNN on the 13th, he said, “I hope again that this [vaccination] will happen as soon as possible, and I hope it will be tomorrow. We have seen the vaccine on the market. We’ve seen media reports that hospitals are waiting to vaccinate healthcare workers and those most vulnerable.”
On the same day, Pfizer’s factory in Michigan loaded the first vaccines into trucks and shipped them all over the United States. A freight truck carrying 184,275 bottles of vaccines (a total of 189 cases) departed from the factory and is expected to arrive in 50 states of the United States on Monday. Another 3,900 bottles are expected to be shipped to the U.S. Overseas Territories later on the 13th, and another 400 cases of about 390,000 bottles will be shipped on Monday and arrive on Tuesday. According to Pfizer, there are five doses of vaccines per bottle.
Photo Source: Reuters
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved emergency license for the use of the vaccine on the 11th, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Immunization Advisory Committee voted on the 12th to recommend the vaccination for people aged 16 and above, and recommended that medical staff and personnel in long-term care institutions be vaccinated first.
“It’s a very nice day for the U.S. and the world,” Monsef Slave, the head of the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine program, told Fox News on the 13th. The United States plans to distribute 40 million doses by the end of the year and 50 to 80 million doses in January and February next year. “Overall, we hope to vaccinate 100 million people before the end of the first quarter of 2021.”
CNN reported that most Americans will have to wait for months to get vaccinated. Before that, many states in the United States are expected to continue to see an unprecedented number of new infections. However, according to a White House official and a person familiar with the matter, senior White House officials will receive part of the first coronavirus vaccine in the United States, ahead of ordinary Americans.
Photo: White House of the United States
The White House said on the 13th that senior U.S. officials will be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus to ensure the basic functions and safety of the government. “Senior officials from the three branches of the U.S. government will be vaccinated to ensure continuity of the government,” NSC spokesman John Uliot wrote in a statement. The American people should be confident that, with the advice of public health professionals and national security leadership, they will receive vaccines that are as safe and effective as senior officials of the United States government.”
Earlier, the New York Times quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that White House staff who came into close contact with current President Trump were told that they would be vaccinated soon, in order to prevent more people from contracting the West Wing of the White House. Bloomberg also reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Trump would be one of the first people to be vaccinated.
U.S. media reported that the White House has had many outbreaks of coronavirus because senior White House officials, including Trump himself, defied the health guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trump was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus in October and was hospitalized for several days. At least 52 people associated with Trump have been infected with the coronavirus in recent months.
