US has $ 1.95 billion contract for 100 million doses of Pfizer vaccine (file)
Washington:
If Pfizer Inc submits positive initial data from its COVID-19 vaccine trial to health regulators as quickly as expected, the U.S. government plans to start immunizing Americans in December, Health Secretary Alex Azar said on Tuesday.
Pfizer said on Monday that the vaccine it was developing with its German partner BioNTech SE was 90% effective against COVID-19, based on an initial review of the results of its large, late-stage trial.
The US drug maker said it expects to have safety data on the need to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration as soon as next week. .
With FDA clearance, the United States would receive about 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine per month, Azar said on a call with reporters, noting that HHS could stock up at the end of this month.
The United States has a $ 1.95 billion contract for 100 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine – enough to inoculate 50 million people – with an option to acquire another 500 million.
Earlier Tuesday, Azar told CNBC that final decisions are subject to a thorough review of vaccine efficacy data.
Based on the recommendations to the government, it will likely start with inoculations to the elderly in nursing homes and assisted living centers, healthcare workers and first responders, with the aim of completing these injections of here at the end of January.
Anthony Fauci, a U.S. infectious disease specialist, also said in an interview with MSNBC that he expected doses of the vaccine to be available for certain high-priority groups in December.
Azar said he expects there will soon be more vaccines to protect against COVID-19 from other companies, including Moderna Inc , which is expected to announce the interim results of a large trial of its experimental vaccine at the end of the month.
“At the end of March, beginning of April, we plan to have enough for every American who wants to be vaccinated,” Azar told the CBNC.
DISTRIBUTION OF ANTIBODY DRUGS
Azar also said the US government will begin distribution of Eli Lilly and Co’s antibody treatment this week, starting first in areas with the highest number of COVID-19 hospital patients and across the board. .
The treatment, which is given by infusion, received EUA on Monday.
“We will ensure a fair distribution and we will work closely with our governors,” Azar said. He said the government will use the same process used to distribute remdesivir, an antiviral drug from Gilead Sciences Inc used to treat people hospitalized with COVID-19.
According to the Health and Human Services website, the agency will ship more than 79,000 doses of the therapeutic antibody this week, with the most going to Wisconsin, Texas, California and Illinois.
The United States has purchased 300,000 doses of the treatment this year and has the option of purchasing an additional 650,000 doses next year.
Azar said health officials and Eli Lilly were exploring ways to provide treatment outside of hospitals, including outpatient infusion centers.
Fauci described Lilly’s treatment as “an important first step in the development and delivery of interventions that are given early in the course of the disease.”
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
