A huge study in the United States of another vaccine candidate against COVID-19 kicked off on Monday, as states continue to distribute scarce reserves of the first vaccines in a country anxiously waiting to get rid of the catastrophic outbreak. .
Public health experts say that in addition to the two vaccines currently being distributed – one developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and the other by Moderna – it is crucial to have more options to supply enough vaccines in the country and the world.
The candidate developed by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach the final stage of clinical trials in the United States. Approximately 30,000 volunteers are needed to demonstrate whether the vaccine really works and is safe.
“If you want to have enough vaccines to immunize everyone in the United States you want to vaccinate – up to 85% or more of the population – you’ll need more than two companies,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the lead expert, told AP Monday in infectious diseases of the United States.
Approximately 1.8 million deaths worldwide are attributed to the new coronavirus, including more than 330,000 in the United States. So far, this has been the deadliest month of the outbreak in the United States, with about 65,000 deaths so far this December, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The country has recorded more than 3,000 deaths a day in recent weeks.
And the United States could face a terrible winter: despite warnings to stay home and avoid other people during the Christmas season, nearly 1.3 million people passed through the country’s airports on Sunday, most in one day since the crisis settled in the country nine months ago.
President Donald Trump’s government’s Operation Warp Speed is expected to have sent 20 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to the states by early January, less than originally planned, to the frustration of states and health officials who they try to schedule vaccination.
There is no real-time monitoring of how fast people are getting the first of the two required doses. By Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reports of more than 2.1 million vaccines out of the 11.4 million doses sent, but the agency knows the calculation does not is up to date.
It may be days before reports from vaccine providers begin to arrive and the site is added.