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 The first vaccine was authorized for emergency use by U.S.
regulators on Friday night and began shipping on Sunday.
"We would have immunized 100 million people by the first quarter of
2021," U.S. Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui
said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.
He said the United States hopes to have about 40 million doses of
vaccine distributed by the end of December, which would include the
just authorized vaccine from Pfizer Inc and one from Moderna Inc
expected to get a similar emergency use nod later this week.
Another 50 million to 80 million doses will be distributed in
January, and the same number in February, Slaoui said. The vaccine
requires two shots per person.
"We are working with Pfizer to continue helping them and supporting
them achieve the objective of providing us with another 100 million
doses in the second quarter of 2021," Slaoui said.
The first to be vaccinated would be front line healthcare workers,
as well as residents of long-term care facilities, he added.
For the United States to get "herd immunity," which would halt
transmission of the deadly virus, the country would need to have
immunized about 75% or 80% of the population, he said, adding that
he hoped to reach that point between May and June.
"It is however critical that most of the American people decide and
accept to take the vaccine," Slaoui said. "We are very concerned by
the hesitancy that we see."
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He said he hoped people will keep an open mind, "listen to the data and openly
agree that this is a very effective and safe vaccine and therefore take it."
In a large clinical trial, the Pfizer vaccine was 95% effective in preventing
illness with few serious side effects.
Slaoui downplayed suggestions that there might not be enough vaccine to go
around. He noted that a vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is likely to be ready for
authorization late in January or early in February, and that he expected
AstraZeneca's vaccine to be "potentially approvable somewhere late in February."
Political pressure for vaccines to be approved was "not helpful, because it's
not needed," Slaoui said in response to questions about reports that White House
chief of staff Mark Meadows called Food and Drug Administration head Stephen
Hahn on Friday to urge him to authorize the vaccine that day or possibly lose
his job.
A tweet on Friday by President Donald Trump, who has been critical of both the
FDA and Pfizer, said to "Get out the damn vaccine NOW, Dr. Hahn."
"If that phone call happened, I think it was useless and unfortunate, and so are
some of the tweets," Slaoui said.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Bill Berkrot)
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