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As G20 leaders pledged to ensure equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, drugs and testing so poorer countries are not left out, the US, UK and Germany announced plans to start vaccinations. in their countries in December, while Spain said it would. will begin administering the vaccine to its citizens in January.
Britain could give regulatory approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine as early as this week, even before the United States authorizes it, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reported Sunday. Pfizer and BioNTech could get an emergency authorization in the US and Europe for their Covid-19 vaccine next month after the final results of the trial showed a 95% success rate and no serious side effects.
Moderna last week published preliminary data for its vaccine showing an effectiveness of 94.5%.
The better-than-expected results of the two vaccines, both developed with new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, have raised hopes of alleviating a pandemic that has killed more than 1.3 million people.
In the United States, the head of the US vaccine program, Moncef Slaoui, said that the first Americans to receive a vaccine could receive it on December 11, CNN reported Sunday.
“Our plan is to be able to send the vaccines to the vaccination sites within 24 hours after approval, so I hope that maybe the second day after approval on December 11 or 12,” he said in an interview with CNN.
Citing government sources, the Telegraph also said the UK’s National Health Service had been told to be ready to administer it before December 1.
Britain formally asked its medical regulator, the MHRA, last week to assess the suitability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The UK Health Department had no comment on Sunday on when the first vaccines will be given.
Britain has ordered 40 million doses and hopes to have 10 million doses, enough to protect 5 million people, available by the end of the year if regulators approve.
Germany could also start administering Covid-19 vaccine injections next month, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Sunday. He said that Spain and Germany were the first countries in the European Union to have a complete vaccination plan.
“There is reason to be optimistic that there will be approval for a vaccine in Europe this year,” Spahn said in an interview with the editorial group RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland. “And then we can start right away.”
Spahn said he had asked the federal states of Germany to have their vaccination centers ready by mid-December and that this was going well. “I would rather have a vaccination center ready a few days before an approved vaccine that is not being used right away.”
Germany has secured more than 300 million doses of vaccines through the European Commission, bilateral contracts and options, Spahn said, adding that this was more than enough and even left room to share doses with other countries.
Spain will begin a comprehensive vaccination program in January and expects to have covered a substantial part of the population in three months, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Sunday.
“The campaign will start in January and will have 13,000 vaccination points,” Sánchez said at a press conference after a two-day online summit of G20 leaders. “A very important part of the population can be vaccinated, with all guarantees, in the first quarter of the year.”
Meanwhile, nearly 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines will be shipped and flown to developing countries next year in a “mammoth operation,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said on Monday as world leaders promised. ensure fair distribution of vaccines.
UNICEF said it was working with more than 350 airlines and transportation companies to deliver vaccines and a billion syringes to poor countries like Burundi, Afghanistan and Yemen as part of Covax, a global Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan with the World Health Organization (WHO).
“This invaluable collaboration will go a long way toward ensuring that there is sufficient transportation capacity for this historic and gigantic operation,” said Etleva Kadilli, director of UNICEF’s supply division, in a statement.
Covax, co-led by the Gavi vaccine group, WHO, and the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness, aims to deter governments from stockpiling Covid-19 vaccines and focus on vaccinating those most at risk first in each country.
UNICEF’s role with Covax stems from its status as the world’s leading vaccine buyer. It said it purchases more than 2 billion doses of vaccines a year for routine immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
