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 While medical professionals at a growing number of hospitals rolled
up their sleeves, lawmakers on Capitol Hill said they were nearing a
long-elusive bipartisan deal on $900 billion in economic relief to
pandemic-hit U.S. workers and businesses.
The aid package, to be attached to a massive spending bill that must
pass by Friday to avert a federal shutdown, was not expected to
include COVID-relief funds for state and local governments, as
Democrats wanted, or protections for companies from pandemic-related
lawsuits, as sought by Republicans.
Rollout of the first tranche of 2.9 million doses of a newly
authorized vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE
was in its third full day, with shipments headed to 66 more
distribution hubs nationwide.
A second vaccine from Moderna Inc could win emergency-use approval
from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week.
Express delivery companies FedEx and United Parcel Service, sharing
a leading role in vaccine shipments, said they were monitoring
potential impacts of heavy ice and snow that began to disrupt
transport along the Eastern Seaboard.
U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, overseeing the government's
Operation Warp Speed campaign, said FedEx and UPS have developed
contingency plans to keep any delayed vaccine shipments secure until
they can be "delivered the next day."
"We are on track with all the deliveries we said we were doing,"
Perna told reporters at a briefing. He cited a minor glitch
involving four trays of vaccine - two sent to California and two to
Alabama - that arrived at temperatures lower than prescribed. The
trays in question were shipped back to Pfizer and later replaced,
Perna said.
Some 570 other vaccine distribution centers received the bulk of the
initial batch of shipments on Monday and Tuesday, and an even larger
wave was due for delivery to 886 additional locations on Friday,
Perna said.
From each distribution site, vaccine doses were divided up among
area hospitals and administered to healthcare workers, designated as
first in line to be immunized. Some were also going to residents and
staff of long-term care facilities. Later vaccine rounds will go to
other essential workers, senior citizens and people with chronic
health conditions.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he would get the
vaccine publicly to help instill confidence in its safety, is
expected to receive his first injection as soon as next week,
according to his transition team.
Biden, 78, is in a high-risk category for the coronavirus due to his
age.
'NOT OVER YET'
It will take several months before vaccines are widely available to
the public on demand, and opinion polls have found many Americans
hesitant about getting inoculated.
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Political leaders and medical authorities in the meantime have
launched a media blitz assuring Americans that the vaccines are safe
while urging them to avoid growing weary of social distancing and
mask-wearing while the pandemic rages on.
"It is not over yet," Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House
coronavirus task force, told CBS News. "Public health measures are
the bridge to get to the vaccine, which is going to get us out of
this."
Data shows surging infections and hospitalizations are driving
healthcare systems to the breaking point across much of the country,
with many intensive care units at or near capacity.
The United States reported at least 3,459 additional coronavirus
deaths on Wednesday alone, a record that marks the fourth time in a
week the daily toll has surpassed 3,000, according to a Reuters
tally. The seven-day average has topped 2,500 lives lost every 24
hours for the first time this week.
To date, COVID-19 deaths total more than 304,000 nationally, while
the mounting case load of 16.7 million known infections represents
roughly 5% of the U.S. population.
With hospitalizations setting a record for the 19th day in a row -
nearly 113,000 patients under treatment on Wednesday - health
experts warn that fatalities will rise higher still in the weeks
ahead, even as the vaccine campaign steadily expands.
Another 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 5.9 million doses
of Moderna's vaccine could be allocated next week, U.S. Health
Secretary Alex Azar told a conference call. Both require two doses,
given three or four weeks apart, for each person inoculated.
In all, the United States has options to buy up to 300 million doses
of those vaccines, Azar said, plus hundreds of millions more doses
of vaccines yet to receive approval, including some single-dose
drugs.
The United States could have a surplus supply of vaccines in the
future, if all the vaccines it has secured are authorized for use,
Azar said, which could eventually benefit other countries.
The Trump administration was also in talks to secure additional
antibody treatment doses from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli
Lilly and Co, Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui told
the same conference call.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Manas Mishra, Anurag Maan, Lisa Shumaker
and, Richard Cowan; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Steve Gorman;
Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Aurora Ellis and Grant McCool)
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