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The United States today launched a mass vaccination campaign in the hopes of turning the tide of the world’s largest coronavirus outbreak, as the nation’s death toll surpassed a staggering 300,000.
New York today inoculated its first healthcare worker, an intensive care unit nurse in Queens, with the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
Sandra Lindsay received the vaccine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, one of the first epicenters of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, and received applause on a live broadcast with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“It felt no different than taking any other vaccines,” Ms. Lindsay said.
“I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like the cure is coming. I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe.”
The United States, which has the world’s highest death toll and the highest number of reported cases at 16.3 million, surpassed 300,000 deaths just hours after vaccines began, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally.
Minutes after the injection, President Donald Trump tweeted: “First vaccine administered. Congratulations, United States! Congratulations WORLD!”
Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare system, operates some of the select hospitals in the United States administering the country’s first inoculations of the Pfizer / BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine outside of trials.
The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, won emergency use approval from federal regulators on Friday after it was found to be 95% effective in preventing disease in a large clinical trial.
The first 2.9 million doses began shipping to distribution centers across the country yesterday, just 11 months after the United States documented its first Covid-19 infections.
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Watch LIVE how the first person is vaccinated in New York: https://t.co/a3p8QOtK6w
– Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) December 14, 2020
Hospitals in Texas, Utah and Minnesota said they also expected to receive their first doses of the vaccine today at select hospitals, to be administered immediately.
The first U.S. shipments of coronavirus vaccine departed yesterday from Pfizer’s Kalamazoo, Michigan facility, truck-packed with dry ice to maintain the required low temperatures.
They were then transported to UPS and FedEx planes waiting at airfields in Lansing and Grand Rapids, kicking off a nationwide immunization effort of unprecedented complexity.
First vaccine administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
The planes delivered the shipments to UPS and FedEx freight centers in Louisville and Memphis, respectively, from where they were loaded onto planes and trucks for distribution to the first 145 of 636 vaccine preparation areas across the country.
The second and third waves of vaccine shipments were due to leave for the remaining sites tomorrow and Wednesday.
“This is the most difficult vaccine launch in history. There will certainly be setbacks, but we have done our best from the federal level and we have worked with partners to make everything as easy as possible. Please bear with us,” he said Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Fox News, adding that he would get the vaccine as soon as he can.
The logistical effort is further complicated by the need to transport and store the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine at minus 70 Celsius (-94 F), requiring massive amounts of dry ice or specialized ultra-cold freezers.
Healthcare workers and elderly residents of long-term care homes will be the first to receive vaccinations in a two-dose regimen given three weeks apart.
Canada to Begin Launch of Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine
Canada begins rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine today, just days after becoming one of the first countries to approve the treatment.
The first shipment of the vaccine arrived in the country last night, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed the “good news.”
“But our fight against Covid-19 is not over. Now more than ever, let’s keep our vigilance,” he said in a tweet.
Trudeau has previously said that the country will receive 249,000 initial doses of the vaccine this month, with the first 30,000 doses expected to arrive today.
Local media reported that it will be rolled out in Quebec, the country’s worst affected province, on the same day, where it will be distributed to nursing homes.
Distribution will begin tomorrow in neighboring Ontario, the province said on its official website, as part of a pilot plan to be delivered to more than 2,500 front-line workers in hospitals and nursing homes.
It is unclear when, precisely, other provinces will receive the vaccine, although authorities have said the deployment is expected to take place this week.
Speaking to national broadcaster CBC, Dany Fortin, who is in charge of the vaccine’s distribution, said that “the delivery program is going exactly as planned.”
“The provinces will be in a position to administer the vaccines in the coming days,” he said.
Canada pre-ordered 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine while it was still in development, with an option for an additional 56 million doses.
The vaccine, which was shown to be 95% effective in late-stage clinical trials, is given in two doses, 21 days apart.
Canada had yesterday counted 460,743 cases of the virus, with 13,431 deaths.
AstraZeneca UK vaccine trial removes subset with children – US trial registry.
Pharmaceutical AstraZeneca removed a study group made up of children from a trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in Britain, records of clinical trials in the United States showed.
The mid-to-late stage trial of more than 12,000 participants previously enrolled children older than five years with parental consent.
However, the page was updated on December 10 to reflect the changes.
AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine with the University of Oxford, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
New Zealand aims to open up to Australians in early 2021
New Zealand expects to open a travel bubble with Australia by April next year and is working to finalize necessary border measures against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Ardern said New Zealand’s cabinet had agreed “in principle” to open a travel bubble through Tasmania in the first quarter of 2021 provided there are no major virus outbreaks in either country.
“It is our intention to name a date for the start of quarantine-free trans-Tasmanian travel in the new year, once the remaining details are closed,” he told reporters.
New Zealand closed its borders in March and since then all international arrivals, including Australians, have to spend two weeks in controlled isolation.
The country has been widely praised for its strict handling of the coronavirus, which has caused just 25 deaths in a population of five million.
Ms Ardern said she would not allow unnecessary risks to be taken to reopen travel with Australia, which prior to the pandemic was New Zealand’s largest source of foreign visitors.
He said a key consideration was how to prevent border facilities from flooding if there is a major virus outbreak in Australia prompting thousands of visiting New Zealanders to quickly return home.
“It is not hypothetical, there have been several (outbreaks in Australia),” he said.
“We would need to arrange for potentially thousands of New Zealanders to return to New Zealand in numbers that we could not necessarily handle in isolation.”
Australia has allowed non-quarantine travel for New Zealand arrivals since October, but New Zealand has not reciprocated, maintaining its 14-day quarantine.
Over the weekend, New Zealand announced a similar plan for a travel bubble with the small Cook Islands in the Pacific in the first quarter of next year.
Singapore approves Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine
Singapore has approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine and expects delivery of the first injections by the end of December, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
The city-state of 5.7 million people hopes to have enough vaccines for everyone by the third quarter of 2021 and will make it free for citizens and long-term residents, Lee said.
While the vaccination will be voluntary, Lee said he and other government officials would be among the first beneficiaries along with healthcare workers, other front-line personnel, the elderly and the vulnerable.
Singapore has also signed advance purchase agreements and made upfront payments on promising candidate vaccines, including those being developed by Moderna and Sinovac, setting aside more than $ 1 billion for injections, authorities said.
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