Vaccine Distribution Hurdles And Successes Will Define 2021
While production and distribution poses a unique set of logistical challenges, the hardest part may prove to be decisions around who gets the shot when.
Fox News:
Fauci Says Operation Warp Speed 'Will Go Down Historically' As 'Highly Successful'
White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci told "Bill Hemmer Reports" Tuesday that he was "doing great" after receiving the first of two doses of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine. "I don't have any discomfort in any part of my body, not even in my arms ..." Fauci, 79, told substitute host John Roberts. "I mean, I'm right now feeling great, but might change a little bit later. I wouldn't be surprised if I got a little ache and felt a little down. But right now, I actually feel perfect." Even as more Americans receive the vaccine in the coming days and weeks, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told Roberts that "nothing should really change right now with regard to the public health measures that hopefully we have all already been doing." (Chamberlain, 12/22)
Reuters:
Production And Delivery Challenges Set Up Turbulent Year Of The Vaccine
As 2020 closes, regulatory approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes the world can defeat the pandemic next year. But production and delivery challenges suggest beating the disease will be a marathon whose finish line is still far away. Europe on Monday followed Britain and the United States in giving a green light to a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech which, like a similar shot from Moderna that has U.S. emergency approval, demonstrated 95% efficacy in large trials. Miller, 12/23)
USA Today:
COVID Vaccine Distribution Plan Creates Winners, Losers Among States
As health care workers and nursing home residents await the first scarce syringes of COVID-19 vaccine, few realize that when they will get a dose depends a lot on what state they live in. Though they’re first in line for the vaccine, some people in those groups may end up getting vaccinated after people in other states who are deemed lower priority. The vaccine is allocated according to the number of adults in each state, which doesn’t correlate to the number of high-risk people there. As long as supplies are limited, some states won’t get doses proportionate to their needs. (Wagner, Slack and Bajak, 12/22)
More people line up for shots or decide to pass for now —
Bloomberg:
First-In-Line Health Workers Show Off Shots To Push Safety
Nurses sporting stickers and dancing doctors are the face of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the U.S. Health-care workers across the country are taking to social media to show they received the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine, with many using the hashtag #IGotTheShot. They are among the first to receive the vaccine outside of clinical trials after it was authorized for emergency use by regulators. Another shot from Moderna Inc. began rolling out this week. (LaVito, 12/22)
The Hill:
Growing Number Of Lawmakers Decline Early Access To COVID-19 Vaccine
A small but growing number of lawmakers are declining early access to a COVID-19 vaccine that’s being offered to them under continuity of government policies. A handful of lawmakers in both parties, including Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Jefferson Van Drew (R-N.J.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and incoming Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), all made a point of announcing they would refuse a vaccine before all front-line health care workers and seniors get inoculated. (Marcos, 12/22)
AP:
Governor Gets Vaccine, Texas Hospitalizations Still Soaring
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday joined the ranks of governors receiving the COVID-19 vaccine on live television in hopes of assuring the public that the inoculations are safe. Abbott, a Republican, said after getting the vaccine at a hospital in the state capital that federal health officials have urged governors to set an example. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey also received the first dose this week, while other governors have said they’ll wait. (12/23)
Also —
CNN:
Every Country Has Vaccine Skeptics. In Russia, Doctors Are In Their Ranks
News of the first takers of the desperately awaited Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine spurred some hope and excitement amid new lockdowns and spiraling infections in much of the US and the UK. But in Russia, one of the few countries already offering vaccines to a wider segment of the general public, the turnout in the first two weeks of "large-scale" vaccination has been less than enthusiastic. (Ilyushina, 12/23)
