A massive US study of another COVID-19 vaccine candidate kicked off Monday as states continue to distribute meager stocks of the first vaccines in a country anxiously waiting to rid itself of the catastrophic outbreak.
Public health experts say that in addition to the two vaccines currently being distributed – one made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and the other by Moderna – it is crucial to have more options to supply enough vaccines to the country and the world.
The candidate made by Novavax Inc. is the fifth to reach the final phase of clinical trials in the United States. About 30,000 volunteers are needed to show if the vaccine really works and is safe.
“If you want to have enough vaccines to immunize everyone in the United States that you would like to vaccinate – up to 85% or more of the population – you will need more than two companies,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Associated Press, told The Associated Press on Monday. America’s leading infectious disease expert.
Approximately 1.8 million deaths globally are attributed to the new coronavirus, including more than 330,000 in the United States. This has been the deadliest month of the outbreak in the United States so far, with some 65,000 deaths so far in December, according to the COVID Tracking Project. The country has recorded more than 3,000 deaths per day in recent weeks.
And the United States could face a terrible winter: Despite warnings to stay home and avoid others during the Christmas season, nearly 1.3 million people passed through the nation’s airports on Sunday, the most in one day. since the crisis set in the country nine months ago.
The Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed expects to have shipped 20 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to states by early January, less than originally planned, much to the frustration of states and health officials trying schedule vaccination.
There is no real-time monitoring of how quickly people are getting the first of the two necessary doses. As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had reports of more than 2.1 million vaccinations of the 11.4 million doses shipped, but the agency knows that the estimate is not. updated. It may take days before reports from vaccine providers begin to arrive and are posted on the site.
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The Associated Press Department of Health and Science is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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