Getting out the vaccines looms as next challenge
The announcement a second candidate vaccine has proved effective in fighting the novel coronavirus in the United States is a welcome development as the country deals with a raging pandemic, but there are major concerns over how distribution will be managed.
The issues range from funding shortfalls and storage protocols to people trusting a vaccine as well as the refusal of US President Donald Trump’s administration to share its vaccine- distribution plan with the Democrat Joe Biden, who had declared victory in the presidential election this month.
“There’s a lot of anxiety,” said Rebecca Coyle, executive director of the American Immunization Registry Association, which has been helping states prepare. “I don’t think we are ready today.’’
Biotech company Moderna announced on Monday that its vaccine is 94.5 percent effective against the coronavirus. This followed the announcement on Nov 9 by drug giant Pfizer and its partner German company BioNTech that their vaccine is more than 90 percent effective.
Both companies are seeking approval for emergency use from the Food and Drug Administration. The first vaccinations could happen at the end of December.
A mass immunization effort will involve public communication campaigns, ordering of equipment, hiring of staff, training of vaccine providers, securing all vaccine sites and making sure they won’t contribute to the virus’ spread. Officials will also need to provide adequate transportation to move the vaccines to states and establish secure convoys to transport the vaccine.
The federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, or CDC, has allocated $ 200 million to the states for a vaccine- distribution campaign, with another $ 140 million promised in December.
CDC Director Robert Redfield has said Congress will need to provide up to $ 6 billion, while state health departments have asked Congress for at least $ 8.4 billion more.
But negotiations for more funding are caught up in the stalemate between Democrats, Republicans and the Trump administration over a coronavirus stimulus bill.
Storage requirements
Health authorities must tackle the unprecedented cold storage requirements of Pfizer’s vaccine. It needs to be stored at - 94 C, a temperature met only by the coldest deep freezers. Pharmacies do not have freezers that cold.
Only large medical centers, universities and perhaps some public health departments have such deep freezers, and the storage requirements could hinder distribution, particularly in rural areas.
Delivery companies DHL, UPS and FedEx are set to deliver millions and then billions of doses of the vaccines packed in dry ice.
A shortage of nurses in the US combined with healthcare workers now fighting the coronavirus pandemic with depleted resources could pose difficulties in vaccinating healthcare workers at hospitals.
To ease the burden on state health departments, the federal government is contracting with CVS and Walgreens pharmacies to vaccinate residents of nursing homes and other long- term care centers around the country.
But it could be difficult to reach those in isolated regions, healthcare officials said.