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 "The next three to six weeks at minimum ... are our COVID weeks,"
Dr. Michael Osterholm, a member of Biden's coronavirus advisory
board, told CNN. "It won't end after that, but that is the period
right now where we could have a surge upon a surge upon a surge."
Osterholm stressed that it would be several months before the nation
sees widespread availability of vaccines, the first of which cleared
a key U.S. regulatory hurdle on Thursday.
A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
voted overwhelmingly to recommend emergency-use authorization of a
vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and its German partner, BioNTech SE.
FDA approval is expected within days, paving the way for a mass
inoculation campaign unparalleled in U.S. history to be launched as
early as next week. The advisory panel is due to review a second
vaccine from Moderna Inc next week.
Preparations for the vaccine rollout were in full swing.
Delivery giants United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp stood by to
ship millions of doses to distribution staging areas under contract
with the federal government, giving top priority to the vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccines require storage in ulta-cold freezer units and
must be prepared for injection and given quickly once thawed, posing
special challenges to medical authorities.
"We only have six hours to actually use the vaccine," Dr. Stephen
Dohi, chief pharmacist at the Los Angeles County USC Medical Center,
said as he stood beside the hospital's newly purchased ultralow
freezer.
Nevertheless, Osterholm said sizeable quantities of vaccines would
not be available to the public at large before March or April.
Healthcare workers and nursing home residents are likely to be
designated as first in line for the shots.
Osterholm's blunt admonition came as COVID-19 caseloads soared
higher, straining healthcare systems in cities and small towns
across the country and leaving intensive care units in hundreds of
hospitals at or near capacity.
He urged Americans to do their utmost to slow the contagion by
limiting social interactions to members of their immediate
households, and above all, "No Christmas parties."
"There is not a safe Christmas party in this country right now," he
said. Health officials have voiced frustration that millions of
Americans disregarded urgent appeals to limit travel and social
gatherings over the recent Thanksgiving holiday, even as the
pandemic was already raging unchecked.
DAILY DEATH TOLL EXCEEDS 9/11
On Wednesday the daily toll of COVID-19 deaths in the United States
surpassed 3,000 for the first time, climbing to 3,253 fatalities.
That exceeded the loss of life from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and
pushed the total number of Americans killed by the virus since the
start of the pandemic to more than 290,000.
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A record 106,878 people were hospitalized with the highly contagious
respiratory virus as of Thursday night, up at least 18% over the
past two weeks, according to a Reuters tally of state-by-state data.
Pandemic hot zones abounded in rural areas and cities alike.
In California's San Joaquin Valley agricultural region, less than 2%
of intensive care unit (ICU) beds remain unoccupied, the California
Department of Public Health reported on Thursday. Available ICU
capacity throughout the most populous U.S. state has fallen to just
7.7%.
Besides the staggering human cost, the pandemic has shattered the
U.S. economy, forcing millions out of work as state and local
authorities imposed sweeping restrictions on social and economic
activities to curb the virus. Many Americans, however, have resisted
public health directives to wear face coverings in public and avoid
large crowds.
On Thursday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a medical doctor,
imposed a midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew among other measures that will
kick in on Monday and last through at least Jan. 31.
Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio said he was extending his state's 10
p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew until Jan. 2, and Pennsylvania Governor Tom
Wolf, who tested positive for COVID-19 this week, announced new
mitigation measures to take effect on Saturday.
Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20 after defeating President Donald
Trump in last month's election, has set a goal of vaccinating 100
million people - about a third of the U.S. population - within the
first 100 days of his administration.
Although the vaccine is seen as a pivotal weapon in ultimately
vanquishing the pandemic, experts caution that its impact will be
gradual due to initial supply limitations.
"It's not going to be like a light switch on and off," said Dr. Mark
Mulligan, director of the NYU Langone Health Vaccine Center and a
lead investigator for the Pfizer trials. "It's going to be more like
a dimmer switch."
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Maria Caspani, Sharon Bernstein, Norma
Galeana, Lisa Shumaker, Manas Mishra and Julie Steenhuysen; Writing
by Daniel Trotta and Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Daniel
Wallis and Gerry Doyle)
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