The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informed health officials that “limited Covid-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November 2020”, the New York Times reported.
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Dallas-based wholesaler McKesson Corp. has a deal with the federal government and will be requesting permits to set up distribution centers when a vaccine becomes available.
"The normal time required to obtain these permits presents a significant barrier to the success of this urgent public health program," Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told states in an August 27 letter.
"CDC urgently requests your assistance in expediting applications for these distribution facilities."
Redfield asked states to consider waiving requirements that would "prevent these facilities from becoming fully operational by Nov. 1, 2020."
"For the purpose of initial planning, CDC provided states with certain planning assumptions as they work on state-specific plans for vaccine distribution, including possibly having limited quantities of vaccines in October and November," a CDC spokesperson told Reuters.
Who are first in line to get the COVID 19 vaccine shots?
In the US, priority will be given to essential workers, national security officials, seniors, and members of vulnerable racial and ethnic groups, according to The New York Times.
Three Western drugmakers are progressing with their Phase 3 clinical trials, involving tens of thousands of participants. The three are AstraZeneca, which is partnering with Oxford University in England; Moderna, collaborating with the US National Institutes of Health; and the Pfizer/BioNTech alliance. By the nature of the trials, it is difficult to predict when reliable results will emerge.
By the nature of the trials, it is difficult to predict when reliable results will emerge.
Half of the participants in such trials receive an experimental vaccine, while the other half are given a placebo.
Under normal procedures, test administrators must wait -- probably for months -- to see whether there is a statistically significant difference in the infection rate of the two groups.
The US Food and Drug Administration however has raised the possibility that a vaccine might be given emergency approval before the end of trials.
Trump Administration not concerned about the warning by WHO
The White House pushed back on concerns expressed by the World Health Organization (WHO) after a U.S. health official said a coronavirus vaccine might be authorized for use without completing full trials. The White House also said that the United States would not join a global effort to develop, manufacture, and distribute a coronavirus vaccine because of the WHO involvement.
About 172 countries are engaging with the WHO's COVID-19 vaccine plan to ensure equitable access to vaccines, known as COVAX. "The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement on Tuesday.