US begins Covid-19 vaccinations

Vaccinations against the coronavirus began in the US on Monday morning, with some of the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine being given to health care workers in New York. The vaccinations began on the day the US will reach 300,000 deaths from COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration late Friday granted emergency use authorization to pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to distribute its COVID-19 vaccine in the US.

Sandra Lindsay, an intensive care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, became the first recipient in New York -- and possibly in the US -- of the vaccine outside of a clinical trial.

Given that there are more than 330 million people in the US, not everyone will immediately be able to get the vaccine, which is given in two doses. Health care workers will be prioritized, as well as people at higher risk of severe illness due to age, underlying conditions or profession. Pfizer has said it expects to produce up to 50 million vaccine doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion in 2021.

Another vaccine by Moderna, which works in a similar way to the Pfizer vaccine, is set to be discussed for approval by the FDA this week.

Source:

https://www.cnet.com/news/first-covid-19-vaccines-given-in-the-us/ 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-covid-vaccinations-europe-lockdowns.html

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/first-covid-19-pfizer-vaccine-us_n_5fd732dcc5b6218b42ea8472