COVID-19 shots could reach first Americans by mid-December
(VOVWORLD) - US healthcare workers and others recommended for the nation’s first COVID-19 inoculations could start getting shots within a day or two of regulatory consent next month, a top official of the government’s vaccine development effort said on Sunday.
 At a coronavirus disease drive-thru testing location in Houston, Texas, US, on November 20, 2020. (File photo: REUTERS) |
Some 70% of the US population of 330 million would need to be inoculated to achieve “herd” immunity from the virus, a goal the country could achieve by May, according to Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser for “Operation Warp Speed.”
Slaoui said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would likely grant approval in mid-December for distribution of the vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech, launching the largest inoculation campaign in US history.
The FDA’s outside advisers are slated to meet on December 10 to review Pfizer’s emergency-use application for its vaccine, which the company said was found to be 95% effective against infection from the highly contagious respiratory virus.