US vaccine campaign grows as COVID-19 kills more than 3,000 Americans daily

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday expanded its COVID-19 vaccine administration network to doctors and nurses at the forefront of a pandemic that kills more than 3,000 Americans a day, even when a great storm threatened to slow progress on the east coast.

As medical professionals from a growing number of hospitals ran out of sleeves, Capitol Hill lawmakers said they were approaching a bipartisan deal that had long dodged $ 900 billion in economic relief for workers and businesses. of the United States affected by the pandemic.

The aid package, which was attached to a massive spending bill that would have to be approved on Friday to avoid a federal closure, was not expected to include COVID aid funds for state and local governments, such as they wanted Democrats, or protections for businesses against the pandemic lawsuits, as Republicans demanded.

The deployment of the first 2.9 million dose stretch of a newly licensed vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE was in its third full day, with shipments targeting 66 more distribution centers across the country.

A second vaccine from Moderna Inc. could get emergency approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week.

Express delivery companies FedEx and United Parcel Service, which shared a major role in vaccine shipments, said they were monitoring possible heavy ice and snow impacts that were beginning to disrupt transportation along the east coast.

U.S. Army General Gustave Perna, who oversaw the government’s Operation Warp Speed ​​campaign, said FedEx and UPS have developed contingency plans to keep delayed shipments of vaccines safe until they can be “delivered.” the next day. “

“We’re on track with all the deliveries we said we were doing,” Perna told reporters in a briefing. He cited a small flaw related to four vaccine trays (two shipped to California and two to Alabama) that reached temperatures lower than prescribed. The trays in question were shipped to Pfizer and later replaced, Perna said.

Another 570 vaccine distribution centers received most of the initial batch of shipments Monday and Tuesday, and on Friday an even bigger wave was to be delivered to an additional 886 sites, Perna said.

From each distribution site, vaccine doses were divided among hospitals in the area and administered to health workers, designated as the first in line to be immunized. Some also went to residents and long-term care center staff. Subsequent vaccine rounds will be targeted at other essential workers, the elderly and people with chronic illnesses.

According to his transition team, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has said he would get the vaccine publicly to help instill confidence in his safety, will receive his first injection as soon as next week.

Biden, 78, is in a high-risk category for coronavirus due to his age.

“NO MORE”

It will be several months before vaccines become widely available to the public on demand, and opinion polls have found many Americans hesitant about inoculation.

Meanwhile, political leaders and medical authorities have launched a media bombardment assuring Americans that vaccines are safe and urging them to avoid getting tired of social distancing and the use of masks as the pandemic sinks.

“It’s not over yet,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told CBS News. “Public health measures are the bridge to getting to the vaccine, which will get us out of this.”

The data show that growing infections and hospitalizations are driving health systems to the breaking point in much of the country, with many intensive care units at almost or almost.

The United States reported at least 3,459 additional coronavirus deaths on Wednesday alone, a record that marks the fourth time in a week that the daily number has exceeded 3,000, according to a Reuters account. The seven-day average has surpassed the 2,500 lives lost every 24 hours for the first time this week.

To date, deaths from COVID-19 total more than 304,000 nationwide, while the rise in cases from 16.7 million known infections accounts for approximately 5% of the U.S. population.

With hospitalizations setting a record for the 19th day in a row (nearly 113,000 patients in treatment on Wednesday), health experts warn that fatalities will rise further in the coming weeks, although the vaccine campaign is constantly expanding.

Another 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 5.9 million doses of the Modern vaccine could be allocated next week, U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar said in a conference call. Both require two doses, separated by three to four weeks, for each inoculated person.

In total, the United States has options to buy up to 300 million doses of these vaccines, Azar said, in addition to hundreds of millions more doses of vaccines that have not yet been approved, including some single-drug drugs. dose.

The United States could have a surplus supply of vaccines in the future, if all the vaccines it has insured are authorized for use, Azar said, which could eventually benefit other countries.

The Trump administration was also in talks to get additional doses of antibody treatment from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co., Chief Warp Speed ​​Operation Adviser Moncef Slaoui told the same conference call.