The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine on December 11, 2020 in individuals above 16 years of age. The authorization is being called as a historic turning point, as the US coronavirus death toll nears 300,000.
The FDA approval came after a US government advisory panel endorsed the widespread use of Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine on December 10, 2020 . The US expert committee had voted to approve the use of Pfizer's COVID vaccine in a 17-4 vote with one abstention. The experts had concluded that Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID vaccine appears safe and effective for emergency use in adults and teenagers above the age of 16 years.
FDA APPROVES PFIZER VACCINE FOR EMERGENCY USE!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020
This would make the US the sixth country after the UK, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico to clear Pfizer's COVID vaccine. The vaccine is expected to get more authorizations including from the European Union within weeks.
First vaccine to be administered in US within 24 hrs?
Soon after the US FDA approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use across the country, US President Donald Trump said that the first vaccine will be administered "in less than 24 hours."
In a video shared on Twitter, Trump stated that the US has achieved a medical miracle, as they have delivered a safe and effective vaccine in just nine months, which is one of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history. Trump said that this will save millions of lives and end the pandemic once and for all.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020
The US President further stated that he has made sure that this vaccine would be free to all Americans. He further said that his administration has already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country.
US Vaccination Plan: Key Highlights
•Pfizer has a deal with the Trump administration to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine by March 2021 where the shots will be free to the public.
•Every state and six major cities have submitted to the federal government a list of locations, mostly hospitals, where the Pfizer vaccine will be shipped to initially.
•In Florida, the first recipients of the vaccine will be five hospitals in Miami, Orlando, Hollywood, Tampa and Jacksonville.
•In rural Vermont, only the University of Vermont Medical Center and a state warehouse will get supplies of Pfizer's vaccine, as per reports.
•The vaccine packaging will include a device that tracks the location of the box, plus a thermal probe that will make sure the deep freeze is maintained throughout the journey from the company's distribution sites in Michigan and Wisconsin.
•Pfizer has said it will have around 25 million doses of the two-shot vaccine ready for the United States by the end of December.
•The initial supplies will be reserved for health care workers and nursing home residents, with other vulnerable groups next in line.
•The shots will become widely available on-demand when the production is ramped up and this is expected to happen by January-February.
Significance
The expert committee approved the use of Pfizer's vaccine as COVID-19 cases surged to highest-ever levels across the United States, with deaths setting an all-time, one-day record of more than 3,100 on December 9, 2020. According to US health experts, a combination of vaccines will enable the United States to conquer the outbreak. Experts estimate that at least 70 percent of the US population will have to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
Background
The United States remains to be one of the worst-hit nations in the coronavirus pandemic with more than 15.8 million confirmed cases and over 294,000 fatalities. Overall, almost 70.1 million people have been infected with COVID-19 across the world with over 1.59 million fatalities.
Pfizer's clinical trial that involved 44,000 people showed strong protection across different age groups, races and health conditions with no major, unexpected safety problems. The vaccine has been reported to be more than 90 percent effective in blocking the symptoms of Covid-19. The FDA advisers stressed it is not yet clear whether it can stop the silent, symptomless spread of COVID-19, which accounts for up to half of all cases.
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