Aeroplanes and trucks will begin carrying the first authorised coronavirus vaccines across the US this weekend as nearly 3m doses make their way to hospitals in all 50 states.
Workers at manufacturing plants in Wisconsin and Michigan began packing doses of the vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech on Saturday, following the decision by the US drugs regulator to approve it on an emergency basis on Friday night.
Gustave Perna, the US Army general in charge of the federal government’s distribution efforts, told reporters on Saturday: “This is truly a historic day.”
Comparing it with the second world war, Gen Perna added: “D-Day was the beginning of the end, and that is where we are today.”
Nearly 290,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the US, according to the Covid Tracking Project — roughly the number of Americans who died in combat during the second world war.
The country has just endured its worst week of the pandemic, with fatalities topping 3,000 a day.
UPS and FedEx will transport 2.9m doses of Pfizer’s vaccine in supercooled boxes this weekend, with another 2.9m being kept back to provide second injections in three weeks’ time. A further 500,000 are being held in reserve for emergencies.
The first shipments will arrive at 145 sites in all 50 states on Monday — mostly at large hospitals which can store the vaccine at minus 70 degrees Celsius — and the first vaccinations outside a trial setting will be administered soon afterwards. A further 425 sites will receive the vaccine on Tuesday, and another 66 on Wednesday.
Gen Perna insisted the US remained on course to have shipped 40m doses by the end of the year — though that will depend on Moderna’s vaccine also being authorised next week. A committee of scientific advisers will meet on Thursday to issue a recommendation on Moderna’s application to the Food and Drug Administration.
Everyone over the age of 16 will be eligible to receive the vaccine, although those with allergies to any of its ingredients are being warned against doing so, and pregnant women will be advised to talk to their doctors first.
Regulators said on Saturday they had decided not to follow the example of the UK, which banned giving the vaccine to people with severe allergies after two recipients suffered allergic reactions.
Peter Marks, the head of the FDA division which approves vaccines, said: “About 1.6 per cent of the population has had a severe allergic reaction of some sort or another to a food or some environmental aspect. And we would really not like to have that many people not be able to receive the vaccine.”
Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, insisted on Saturday his organisation had not been rushed into approving the vaccine early, following criticism from Donald Trump, the outgoing president, that it was moving too slowly.
Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, reportedly threatened Dr Hahn that he could lose his job on Friday if the FDA failed to authorise the drug by the end of the day — though Dr Hahn called that an “untrue representation” of their conversation.
Officials are concerned, however, that the speed with which the vaccine had been developed and approved could lead to some people doubting its safety.
“The agency is very concerned about vaccine hesitancy,” said Dr Hahn. “We are also aware that some feel that the speed with which this development and then regulatory process took place might give them concerns about the vaccine. But that is why we were very transparent.”
Separately on Saturday, an advisory panel at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously to recommend the vaccine to people aged over 16.