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The U.S. hopes to begin a covid-19 vaccination program in early December, said the head of the group leading the government’s efforts to tackle the pandemic.
“Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to vaccination sites within 24 hours of approval,” by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Moncef Slaoui told CNN. “So I hope maybe the second day of approval, December 11 or 12.”
(Read: Those leading the covid-19 vaccine race)
FDA advisers will reportedly meet December 8-10 to discuss the approval of vaccines that Pfizer and Moderna say are at least 95% effective.
The senior official also said he hoped that once the mass vaccination campaign was launched, the country could achieve “herd immunity” in May.
“Normally, at the level of effectiveness we have (95%), immunizing about 70% of the population would give you true herd immunity. It will probably happen in May, or something like that depending on our plans,” he said.
“I really hope that the level of negative perception of the vaccine will decrease and that people’s acceptance will increase. This will be essential to help us, “he insisted, alluding to the distrust of many about the vaccine.
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The request was expected several days after the publication of the results of the clinical trial conducted since July among 44,000 volunteers in different countries and according to which the vaccine would be 95% effective against covid-19, without serious side effects.
The US agency announced that a public meeting of its vaccine advisory committee will be held on December 10 to review the application.
The opinion of this committee is advisory. The decision to authorize the vaccine or not will depend on FDA scientists and could be made as early as the first half of December.
(You may be interested: The rich and old countries, with the highest risk of death from covid-19)
The Donald Trump administration plans to vaccinate 20 million people at risk in December, after 25-30 million per month.
The United States is the country most affected by the virus ever, crossing the threshold of 12 million cases and over 255,000 deaths.
AFP
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