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Days away: Britain, US set to get first virus vaccines by mid-December

Britain and the United States could deliver the first COVID-19 vaccines by mid-December.

Nov 23, 2020, updated Nov 23, 2020
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt says the virus jab is performing strongly in the UK. (Photo: AP: Ted S. Warren)

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt says the virus jab is performing strongly in the UK. (Photo: AP: Ted S. Warren)

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 says.

The UK could give regulatory approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine this week, even before the United States authorises it, according to London’s Daily Telegraph.

About 70 per cent 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 would likely grant approval in mid-December for distribution of the vaccine produced by Pfizer 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 per cent effective.

A second company, Moderna, is expected to seek separate approval later in December for its vaccine.

For the Pfizer vaccine, Slaoui told CNN on Sunday that “maybe on day two after approval on the 11th or 12th of December, hopefully the first people will be immunised across the United States”.

Once emergency-use approval was granted, Slaoui said, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an advisory panel would recommend who should receive the vaccine first, likely to be frontline medical personnel and high-risk groups such as the elderly.

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has voiced concern that President Donald Trump’s refusal to share vaccine data could cause delays after the next administration takes office on January 20.

Slaoui said he hoped for a smooth hand-off and did not expect the vaccination effort to be derailed.

Coronavirus infections continue to rage out of control across the country and experts worry the surge will only worsen as millions of Americans prepare to travel for Thanksgiving celebrations despite warnings they stay home to avoid spreading the disease.

The United States surpassed 12 million COVID-19 cases on Saturday, as the nation’s death toll climbed to more than 255,000. Coronavirus hospitalisations have increased nearly 50 per cent in the past two weeks.

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The epicentre of the US pandemic has also shifted in recent weeks, with the midwest and Rockies leading the nation in terms of rapidly escalating infections.

Citing government sources, the Telegraph report says British regulators are about to start a formal appraisal of the vaccine, made by Pfizer and BioNTech SE, and the National Health Service had been told to be ready to administer it by December 1.

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it would meet on December 10 to discuss whether to authorise the vaccine.

The UK Department of Health had no comment on Sunday on when the first vaccinations would be administered.

A spokesman said the authorisation process by the medical regulator Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency was independent of the government and would take as long as it needed to review the final data from Pfizer.

Britain formally asked its medical regulator last week to assess the suitability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Britain has ordered 40 million doses and expects to have 10 million doses, enough to protect five million people, available by the end of the year if regulators approve it.

-AAP

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