WASHINGTON: The United States prepared to roll out a coronavirus vaccine within days as the country’s daily death toll surpassed 3,000 for the first
time, exceeding the number of lives lost from the attacks of September 11, 2001. COVID-19 deaths reached 3,253 on Wednesday, pushing up the US total since the start of the pandemic to 289,740, with a record 106,219 people hospitalised with the highly infectious respiratory disease.
Healthcare professionals and support staff, exhausted by the demands of the pandemic, have been watching patients die alone as millions of Americans refuse to follow medical advice to wear masks and avoid crowds in order to curb the virus’ spread. Potentially helping to rein in the outbreak, a vaccine could start reaching healthcare workers, first responders and nursing home residents as soon as Sunday, though more likely early next week, according to Trump administration officials.
US Army General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed vaccine development programme, said all the vaccine doses remained in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies.
“But we’ve worked many rehearsals and planning cycles... and that’s why I’m confident that as soon as EUA (emergency use authorisation) comes aboard, we’ll start packing to the final destinations and distribution will begin within 24 hours,” Perna said.
A panel of independent medical experts was due to decide on Thursday whether to recommend a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE for emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
— Reuters
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