Pfizer vaccines shipped across country
First shots could be given today
The first shipments of the coronavirus vaccine left Pfizer’s Michigan facility on Sunday as trucks started carrying the vials to all 50 states — an historic scene that Americans have been dreaming of for months amid the surging virus that has killed nearly 300,000 and infected millions.
Following the Food and Drug Administration issuing the first emergency use authorization for a COVID19 vaccine on Friday, the trucks started rolling from Pfizer’s plant, filled up with boxes that were packed with doses and dry ice.
The first shot of the Pfizer vaccine could be administered today.
“My hope, again, is that this happens very expeditiously, hopefully tomorrow,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“It would be my greatest hope and desire that that occur tomorrow,” he added, noting that hospitals are waiting to vaccinate health care workers and those who are most vulnerable.
In Massachusetts, an order for the first shipment of 59,475 doses from Pfizer is expected to arrive around Tuesday. Roughly 300,000 doses are due by the end of December to be distributed to the most-vulnerable residents during the first phase of the vaccine rollout.
The first order of vaccines will be delivered directly to 21 hospitals in eight counties, as well as to the Department of Public Health Immunization lab.
The CDC director over the weekend signed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation to use Pfizer’s COVID19 vaccine in people 16 and older.
“As COVID-19 cases continue to surge throughout the U.S., CDC’s recommendation comes at a critical time,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said on Sunday. “Initial COVID-19 vaccination is set to start as early as (today), and this is the next step in our efforts to protect Americans, reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and help restore some normalcy to our lives and our country.”
While the first coronavirus vaccines will be administered this week, a Cambridge-based company’s COVID-19 vaccine will be the focus of an FDA committee. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday to discuss emergency use authorization of the Moderna vaccine.
Like Pfizer, Moderna could also quickly get emergency use authorization. Both are more than 90% effective, according to research. A third candidate by AstraZenaca is also in the works.