US launches massive vaccination effort as Germany returns to partial blockade – Manila Bulletin

Facing record levels of coronavirus, the United States began shipping vaccines across the country on Sunday when it launched a massive immunization effort, while in Germany an explosion of cases forced a return to partial lockdown.

Delivery trucks with special refrigeration equipment left a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as part of an ambitious public-private plan to ship millions of doses of the recently approved Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to vulnerable Americans.

Delivery Services FedEx and UPS are deploying fleets of trucks and planes to transport their valuable cargo, sometimes under armed surveillance, to all 50 states, where healthcare workers and nursing home residents will be first in line.

As the historic mobilization unfolds, 2.9 million initial doses will be delivered by Wednesday, and authorities say 20 million Americans could receive the two-injection regimen by the end of the year and 100 million by March.

A state governor, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, tweeted Sunday: “We now believe the first people will be vaccinated” on Monday morning, less than 72 hours after the vaccine received emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration. from USA

The vaccine got an additional boost Sunday when the federal Centers for Disease Control accepted the FDA’s recommendation.

But the breakthrough comes at one of the darkest times of the global pandemic, with infections rising in the United States and many other countries and health experts still battling vaccine skepticism, lockdown fatigue and uneven compliance with safety rules.

– Increase in the death toll in the United States –

The United States has recorded the highest death toll in the world, now over 298,500, and the highest number of cases, at 16.1 million, including more than 1.1 million new cases last week alone.

Worldwide, there have been at least 1.6 million deaths since the outbreak in China last December, and 71.6 million cases overall.

The start of the US vaccination campaign came as Germany announced a partial closure starting Wednesday, closing non-essential shops and schools in a bid to halt an “exponential growth” in infections.

The restrictions, agreed to by Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders, will apply during the holidays until January 10, and companies are urged to allow employees to work from home or offer extended vacations.

Europe’s largest economy has been badly hit by a coronavirus resurgence, with new infections daily more than three times its spring peak. The daily death toll last week approached 600.

Meanwhile, Italy surpassed Great Britain as the European nation with the highest number of coronavirus deaths.

“I am worried about the two weeks of the Christmas holidays … The battle has not yet been won,” warned Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza, as the country recorded 64,520 deaths, surpassing Britain’s 64,267.

Elsewhere, South Korea, once seen as a model for how to fight the pandemic, reported 1,030 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, a record for the second day in a row.

In Algeria, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 75, made his first television appearance since being hospitalized with Covid-19 in October.

“Thank God,” he said, “I have started the road to recovery.”

And President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil faced harsh criticism for his government’s plan, or the lack of it, opponents said, to vaccinate the population.

Brazil, the country with the second highest death toll in the world, published its vaccination plan on Saturday under pressure from the Supreme Court, but did not mention a start date or details of how it would ensure enough vaccine.

The leading newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, in a scathing front-page editorial, said that Bolsonaro, skeptical of the virus, had demonstrated “murderous stupidity.”

– ‘Don’t let your guard down’ –

Even when US health experts welcomed the unprecedented effort, they warned people not to relax in observing the precautions.

“I’m afraid the next few weeks are going to be hell,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told ABC’s “This Week.”

“So we beg people to please, please, don’t let your guard down.”

UPS and FedEx will ship glass vials of the vaccine to 636 sites across the country by Wednesday.

Approximately 2.9 million doses are shipped in boxes containing dry ice that can keep supplies at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), the freezing temperature necessary to store medicine.

Trials have shown the vaccine to be 95 percent effective, and Americans are told that it is safe unless they are allergic to any of the drug’s components.