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NEWARK, NJ: The United States expanded the launch of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine to hundreds of additional distribution centers on Tuesday (Dec. 15), inoculating thousands more healthcare workers in a massive immunization expected to arrive. to the general public in the coming months.
Distribution of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and German partner BioNTech began on Monday, three days after it won authorization for emergency use from the United States, opening a new front in the battle against a pandemic that claims more than 2,400 lives in United States a day.
Political leaders and medical authorities have launched a two-pronged media blitz recognizing the safety of vaccines while urging Americans to remain diligent in social distancing and wearing masks until vaccines are widely available.
“As a polio survivor, I am a huge supporter of vaccines. Whenever my turn comes, I will take the vaccine and do my part to reassure anyone with doubts. It is the right thing to do for you, your family and the country.” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Twitter.
At University Hospital in Newark, NJ, emergency room nurse Maritza Beniquez became the first person in that state to receive the vaccine on Tuesday in one of many television moments that unfold across the world. country.
“I couldn’t wait for this moment to come to New Jersey. I couldn’t wait for it to come to America,” Beniquez said as she was vaccinated with Governor Phil Murphy watching.
Healthcare workers listen to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy speaking to the media after attending a tour of the University Hospital COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Rutgers New Jersey School of Medicine in Newark, New Jersey, December 15, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Eduardo Munoz). )
Initial doses have gone to doctors, nurses, and other front-line medical professionals, along with nursing home residents and staff. Other essential workers, seniors and people with chronic medical conditions will be next in line.
It will be several months, perhaps until late spring, before the general public can get the vaccines on demand, US officials have said.
Meanwhile, a wave of infections and hospitalizations, which approached 111,000 patients in treatment on Tuesday, continued to push healthcare systems to the brink of collapse in cities and rural areas across the country.
Nationwide, the highly contagious respiratory virus has killed 301,085 people and infected at least 16.5 million as of Monday, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
REFRIGERATOR UNITS, BODY BAGS
In California, where many hospitals had little or no capacity available in their intensive care units, the state ordered dozens of refrigerator storage trailers for bodies and distributed 5,000 body bags in San Diego, Los Angeles and Inyo counties, he said Governor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom said the state has also activated mass fatality pacts among county coroners and has begun talks with the federal government about sending a military medical ship back to the shores of the worst-hit state.
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A bipartisan group of seven governors, from Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, posted a joint video on social media Tuesday urging residents to avoid unnecessary travel and social gatherings outside their homes “until let’s eradicate this virus once and for all. “
Another vaccine, from Moderna, appeared scheduled for regulatory clearance this week after staff at the US Food and Drug Administration endorsed it as safe and effective in documents released Tuesday. Similar to the Pfizer vaccine, it requires two doses several weeks apart.
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By late Monday, shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires sub-arctic refrigeration, had reached nearly all 145 US distribution sites preselected to receive the initial batch of doses.
A second round of shipments went Tuesday to 425 more distribution centers and a third round went to an additional 66 sites on Wednesday. In total, US officials aim to receive 2.9 million doses by the weekend.
In addition to the logistical challenges posed by an inoculation program of unparalleled scope, which surpassed the childhood polio vaccination campaign of the 1950s and 1960s, health authorities face the monumental task of overcoming widespread skepticism about vaccines in general.
A man walks through the area where people are being vaccinated at the University Hospital COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Rutgers New Jersey School of Medicine in Newark, NJ, on December 15, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Eduardo Munoz)
Some Americans believe the pandemic is a hoax and reject public health guidelines for wearing masks and avoiding crowds. Only 61 percent of those surveyed in a recent Reuters / Ipsos poll said they were willing to get vaccinated.
While most vaccines take years to develop, the Pfizer vaccine arrived less than a year after the disease was traced to a market in Wuhan, China, late last year.
“It’s understandable that people are skeptical about speed, but we have to continue to emphasize that speed means the science was extraordinary,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Tuesday. ABC News “Good Morning America”.
The pandemic has wreaked economic havoc as states and localities have imposed stay-at-home orders and closed businesses to quell the contagion, leaving millions out of work.
In Washington, McConnell told reporters that lawmakers would not suspend the session for the year until they have agreed on a new coronavirus relief package for the unemployed and small businesses, which he hoped would be attached to a funding bill. of the broader government.
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