Immune To COVID? New Study Suggests Why

Some communities in the U.S. can expect to receive their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

Pfizer officials told reporters Saturday that initial shipments of the vaccine would roll out of its facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday morning, according to CNN.

Gen. Gus Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said plans are to deliver them to 636 sites nationwide.

“We expect 145 sites across all the states to receive vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer orders for vaccine," Perna said at a news conference Saturday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization Friday night for the vaccine, the first ever to protect people against COVID-19.

The move cleared the way for the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and partner BioNTech to be distributed throughout the United States.

"The FDA’s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world," FDA Commissioner Dr. Steven Hahn said in a news release.

"The tireless work to develop a new vaccine to prevent this novel, serious, and life-threatening disease in an expedited timeframe after its emergence is a true testament to scientific innovation and public-private collaboration worldwide.”

The approval was expected after an FDA advisory panel on Thursday endorsed the vaccine as safe and effective for use in persons 16 years and older. An advisory panel to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also endorsed the vaccine, during a meeting on Saturday.

FDA Emergency use authorizations allow treatments to move forward before they’ve gone through the full approval process, according to the FDA website. Such authorizations can only be issued during a public health emergency, and the agency must determine that the benefits of a vaccine outweigh any risk.

Pfizer and partner BioNTech announced results from phase three clinical trials on the vaccine less than a month ago. The companies said the vaccine was shown to be 95% effective against COVID-19 with no serious safety concerns.

“With science guiding our decision-making, the available safety and effectiveness data support the authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine because the vaccine’s known and potential benefits clearly outweigh its known and potential risks," Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in the news release.

The vaccine is administered in two shots three weeks apart. The emergency use authorization allows it to be administered to those 16 and older.

Pfizer and BioNTech anticipate producing 50 million doses of the vaccine - or enough for 25 million to get both shots - by the end of the year, and up to 1.3 billion in 2021.

It's still unknown how long the vaccine provides protection, or if it stops asymptomatic spread of the disease.

It's up to each state to determine how to distribute the vaccine. Initial doses are expected to mostly be reserved for health care workers and nursing home residents. Other vulnerable groups will likley be next in line, with widespread distribution being targeted for spring.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Good Morning America on Friday that some people could start receiving shots as soon as Monday.

The Pfizer vaccine is the first of several in the pipeline to seek FDA approval. The agency will review one from Moderna next week, and at least two others are expected to follow.

But officials say it will be months before a vaccine shows any real impact on case numbers in the U.S., and people will need to continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing in the meantime.

Worldwide COVID-19 cases now top 71 million, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University, and the disease has killed more than 1.6 million people.

Friday was another record day for both new cases and deaths reported in the U.S. In all, more than 15.9 million cases and nearly 300,000 deaths have been confirmed nationwide. More than half the cases in the U.S. have been reported in just the past two months.

Latest Developments

United States

-Several states, including Alabama, California, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia all reported record high daily numbers of new cases in recent days.

-The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the Pfizer vaccine for use by pilots and air traffic controllers, according to a news release from the agency.

-Intensive care unit beds were either full or near full at about one in eight U.S. hospitals last week, USA Today reported.

-The Los Angeles County Health Department is asking people to please stay home to stop a potentially devastating rise in cases. "We are on a very dangerous track to seeing unprecedented suffering and death here in LA County," health officials said on Twitter. "The impact of this Thanksgiving surge and the earlier rising cases is creating extraordinary stress on our healthcare system. Should we have another surge related to winter holidays, the numbers of hospitalizations and patients in the ICU could become catastrophic." California has more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, more than any other state. About one third of the state's cases are in Los Angeles County.

Worldwide

-South Korea reported 950 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, its most in a single day since the pandemic began. Overall, the country has recorded more than 41,000 cases and at least 578 deaths. Officials there had eased social distancing rules in October but have put some back in place as cases have soared in recent weeks.

-Tokyo reported 621 new cases Saturday, also a record, according to The Associated Press.

-New Zealand and the Cook Islands are working to have a "travel bubble" in place by early next year. The plan would allow people to fly between the two countries without facing quarantine requirements.

For the latest coronavirus information in your county and a full list of important resources to help you make the smartest decisions regarding the disease, check out our dedicated COVID-19 page.

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