COVID-19 vaccine distribution will begin within 24 hours of an emergency use authorization
November 18, 2020 / Mallory Hackett, Associate Editor
Senior officials are confident in the distribution plan for an eventual COVID-19 vaccine, saying there is “light at the end of the tunnel” in a press briefing Wednesday.
“[Distribution] is a large task, but it’s a task that we are up for,” said General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed. “We’re going to take a whole of America approach. That’s why we’re going to be able to do this.”
So far, two vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have released efficacy data showing that each candidate is more than 90% effective.
Because of the manufacturing assistance provided by Operation Warp Speed, there will be roughly 40 million doses of these two vaccines available for distribution by December, pending approval, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
For the past six months, the federal government, OWS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 64 state, local and territorial public health jurisdictions have been working on creating a plan for vaccine distribution.
