An army of trucks with thousands of doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, packed in boxes containing up to 4,725 injections each, left for strategic centers of the parcel companies that will be in charge of distributing them.
By:
AFP
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Millions of vaccines against covid-19, stored at -70 ° C in dry ice, are being shipped to all corners of the United States: a gigantic logistics distribution operation that started this Sunday 13-D with the aim of administering the first dose this monday.
This impressive display reflects the sense of urgency in the world’s leading economic power, where nearly 300,000 people have already died from the new coronavirus, the equivalent of the population of a city like Cincinnati (Ohio, northwest).
An army of trucks loaded with thousands of doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, packaged in boxes containing up to 4,725 injections each, left the Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan (north) on Sunday, heading to strategic centers of the companies. UPS and FedEx parcel services, which will be responsible for distributing them.
Pfizer estimates that 20 planes will transport its vaccines daily to populations across the country, including the Native American tribe of the Navajo, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
“Esperanza”
The goal is to deliver the first batch of vaccines within 24 hours to all hospitals and sites that request it and to vaccinate the first Americans immediately.
“I am hopeful that this is done very quickly. Hopefully tomorrow (Monday),” the head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Stephen Hahn, told CNN.
As a precaution, of the 6.4 million doses available, only half will be delivered, and the rest will be reserved for administering the second necessary dose, three weeks later.
In this first phase, about three million people will be immunized.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that priority be given to nursing home residents (3 million people) and healthcare professionals (21 million).
The vaccine from the US-German duo Pfizer / BioNTech, of which the US government purchased 100 million doses, is 95% effective and has already started to be administered in the UK.
“A hell”
However, in the face of this good news, the authorities fear that the Americans will lower their guard. The country continues to register a record number of infections, regularly exceeding 200,000 cases and reaching up to 3,000 deaths daily.
The United States is the country most affected by the pandemic, with more than 16 million registered infections and almost 300,000 deaths from covid-19. But the actual death toll is underestimated due to lack of evidence at the beginning of the pandemic.
Unlike the first wave of the boreal spring, this time the outbreak concerns the entire country.
And even though the first vaccinations in his state are scheduled for Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he expects a “hellish” pandemic in the coming weeks, urging residents to avoid large family gatherings. during the holiday season.
To achieve herd immunity, synonymous with a return to normality, between 75% and 80% of the US population would need to be vaccinated, experts warn.
Which won’t happen before “May or June,” according to Moncef Slaoui, scientific adviser to the government’s vaccination operation.
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