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(CNN) – The first trucks with about 184,275 vials of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine left the company’s facilities on Sunday. The trucks, carrying a total of 189 boxes, are expected to reach all 50 states on Monday, according to Pfizer.
Another 3,900 vials are also expected to leave the Pfizer facility later today. And on Monday another 400 boxes packed with approximately 390,000 vials are expected to come out, which would arrive in the states on Tuesday.
The loading process for Pfizer’s first shipment of coronavirus vaccines began earlier at the company’s Kalamazoo, Michigan facility.
Gen. Gustave Perna, chief of operations for Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s vaccine initiative, previously said he expected 145 sites in all states to receive the vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday. . This would complete the initial delivery of Pfizer’s vaccine orders.
FDA Chief Says His “Best Hope” Is That Vaccination Will Begin Tomorrow
On Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn called the authorization a “significant milestone” in the fight against the pandemic. And it said it took place after an “open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientists and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency’s career scientists.”
In turn, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, for its acronym in English) voted Saturday in favor of recommending this vaccine for use in older people. 16 years old.
In order for the vaccines to be administered, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield must accept the advisors’ recommendation. This is expected to happen in the next few hours.
Hahn said Sunday that his “best hope” is that vaccination in the United States will begin on Monday.
“My hope, again, is that this will happen very quickly, hopefully tomorrow,” he said when CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him when he expected the first injection.
Workers package the Pfizer vaccine at the company’s facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on December 13, 2020. (Credit: Pool)
More than 16 million people have been infected with coronavirus in the United States and 297,837 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University as of Sunday morning.
Hospitalizations hit record highs for the seventh day in a row on Saturday and experts warn that the pandemic could continue to worsen before the general population receives the vaccine.
