December 13th
The head of the Trump administration’s “Operation Curvature” said that the initial dose of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine will be distributed to states from Monday morning (14th) local time.
The U.S. government began distributing vaccines to states on Monday
According to the Capitol Hill on the 12th, General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Curvature Rapids, said that 145 distribution sites will receive vaccines on Monday, 425 sites on Tuesday (15th) and 66 sites on Wednesday (16th).
These 636 sites are in the only officially identified states, because these states are currently able to store vaccines at the necessary ultra-cold temperatures.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency authorization for the use of the vaccine on Friday night (11th) local time. The vaccine will be officially approved once the CDC team votes later.
“It’s the ultimate goal to make sure the vaccine arrives at the time professionals can need and then manage it,” Perna said, with the ultimate goal of getting the vaccine to sites no later than Monday morning.
There are still many challenges to overcome before vaccination
Once the vaccine arrives at distribution sites, states will reportedly need to be shipped to hospitals, clinics or long-term care facilities to be managed, which is one of the challenges that the states need to overcome to get the vaccine to the general public.
States also said that only a small amount of federal funding is needed to solve the problems of staffing, public advocacy and tracking those who have been vaccinated with two doses at the same time.
Health care workers, long-term care facility employees and residents, and other priority groups will be first to receive vaccination. But the government has no plans to vaccinate or pay for the average billions of Americans in 2021.
According to the report, the U.S. federal government plans to send 2.9 million doses in the first wave, and more doses will be sent every week in the future.
Earlier, the U.S. media said that White House Chief of Staff Meadows told FDA Director Hahn on the 11th that if the agency did not approve the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine before the end of the day, it should submit his resignation.
At the same time, Trump also warned Hahn that “it’s time to come up with a vaccine” and “don’t play tricks on me, it’s important to save lives”. U.S. media criticized that this threat once again injects political factors into the vaccine competition, which may undermine public trust in vaccines.
