Is the end of the pandemic beginning? The United States begins to vaccinate against Covid on Monday

Huge distribution deployment logistics are taking place right now United States, where millions of vaccines against covid19, stored at -70 ° C in dry ice, they are transferred to different regions of the country to start applying the first doses on Monday, December 14,

Trucks loaded with thousands of doses of vaccine Pfizer / BioNTech, packed in boxes containing up to 4,725 injections each, left this Sunday from the Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan (north), to the strategic centers of the UPS and FedEx parcel companies, which will be in charge of their distribution .

Pfizer estimates that 20 planes will transport their vaccines daily to populations across the country, including the Native American Navajo tribe, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

It was the first day of vaccination in the UK

The goal is to deliver the first batch of vaccine within 24 hours to all hospitals and sites that request it, and to immunize the first Americans as quickly as possible. The head of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Stephen hahnsaid to the chain CNN: “I hope it goes very quickly. Hopefully tomorrow (Monday).”

How will the operation be?

According to the information you entered AFP, Of the 6.4 million available doses, only half will be delivered and the rest will be reserved for the administration of the second dose needed three weeks later.

The vaccine from the American-German duo Pfizer / BioNTech, of which the American government has bought 100 million doses, has an efficiency of 95% and it has already started to be administered in the UK. In this first phase, some three million people will be vaccinated, in an effort to begin to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, which in the United States has already claimed nearly 300,000 lives, a figure equivalent to the population of a city like Cincinnati (Ohio, Northwest).

The Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that priority be given to residents of nursing homes, where there are currently around 3 million people, and medical professionals, around 21 million.

Dr Cohen: “The vaccine does not guarantee the end of the pandemic”

The numbers, more and more worrying

Despite the good news of the start of vaccination, authorities fear Americans are letting their guard down when it comes to healthcare. Does the country continue to record a record number of infections, regularly exceeding 200,000 cases daily and reaching up to 3,000 deaths.

The Governor of New Jersey, Phil murphy, said he expects a “hellish” pandemic situation in the coming weeks, and urged residents to avoid large family gatherings during the holiday break.

To achieve collective immunity, synonymous with a return to normalcy, between 75% and 80% of the American population would need to be vaccinated, warn experts. It won’t happen until “May or June”, as he said. Moncef Slaoui, scientific advisor to the government vaccination operation.

Currently, the United States is the country most affected by the pandemic, with more than 16 million infections recorded and nearly 300,000 deaths from covid-19. In addition, the actual death toll is in question due to the lack of evidence at the start of the pandemic.

AG / MC / AFP