Some 20 million people could be inoculated against COVID-19 by the
end of 2020 and most Americans will have access to highly effective
vaccines by mid-2021, the chief adviser of President Donald Trump's
Operation Warp Speed program said.
"Within 24 hours, maybe at most 36 to 48 hours, from the approval,
the vaccine can be in people's arms," Moncef Slaoui, a former
GlaxoSmithKline executive who is overseeing the vaccine portion of
the U.S. program, said at an event conducted by The Washington Post
newspaper.
His comments came on the same day that another 2,295 fatalities
nationwide were linked to COVID-19, even before California, the most
populous U.S. state, reported full results. Officials in several
states said numbers were higher in part due to a backlog from the
Thanksgiving holiday.
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A statement from the public health director for Los Angeles County
highlighted the ravages of the surging pandemic. Barbara Ferrer, the
public health director, said that while Tuesday was the county's
"worst day thus far" of the pandemic, "...it will likely not remain
the worst day of the pandemic in Los Angeles County. That will be
tomorrow, and the next day and the next as cases, hospitalizations
and deaths increase."
Health officials pleaded with Americans to stick with coronavirus
restrictions even with a vaccine in sight.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is moving to
shorten the length of self-quarantine recommended after potential
exposure to the coronavirus to 10 days, or seven days with a
negative test, a federal spokesperson said on Tuesday. The CDC
currently recommends a 14-day quarantine in order to curb the
transmission of the virus.
TIMELINE ON A VACCINE
Some 60 million to 70 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine could be
available per month beginning in January, after the expected
regulatory approval of products from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc,
Slaoui said.
A Food and Drug Administration panel of outside advisers will meet
on Dec. 10 to discuss whether to recommend emergency use
authorization of the Pfizer vaccine, developed with German partner
BioNTech SE. Moderna's vaccine candidate is expected to be reviewed
a week later.
The timeline described by Slaoui and Health and Human Services
Secretary Alex Azar appeared to assume that the FDA's authorization
of the first vaccine would come within days of the Dec. 10 meeting.
But the head of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and
Research, Dr. Peter Marks, told patient advocacy groups last week
that it might take "a few days to a few weeks."
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FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, likewise, has said the process could take longer.
The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it has made preparations to
enable the "immediate mass shipment" of COVID-19 vaccines and completed all
necessary regulatory measures.
An estimated 21 million healthcare workers and 3 million residents of long-term
care facilities should be first in line to receive a vaccine, according to a
recommendation voted on by a CDC panel of advisers on Tuesday.
Nursing homes are experiencing the worst outbreak of weekly coronavirus cases
since the spring, according to the American Health Care Association and National
Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL).
HOLIDAY TRAVEL SPIKE
State and local officials have returned to imposing restrictions on businesses
and activities in response to the latest surge of a pandemic that killed 37,000
people in November.
A record nearly 96,000 COVID-19 patients were reported in U.S. hospitals on
Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally.
Hospitalizations and deaths are expected to spike even higher during the holiday
travel season, a trend that officials warn could overwhelm already strained
healthcare systems.
The monthly death toll from COVID-19 is projected to nearly double in December
to a pandemic-high of more than 70,000 and surpass 76,000 in January before
ebbing in February, according to a widely cited model from the University of
Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
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Pandemic-related restrictions have ravaged the U.S. economy. A bipartisan group
of U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a $908 billion COVID-19 relief bill aimed
at breaking a deadlock over emergency assistance for small businesses,
industries and the unemployed.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Julie Steenhuysen; Additional reporting by Lisa
Shumaker, Maria Caspani, Peter Szekely, Jonathan Allen, David Shepardson, Steve
Gorman and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by
Bill Berkrot, Bill Tarrant and Leslie Adler)
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