Millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from the company Moderna begin arriving at hospitals in the United States this Monday, as health experts debate who should be next in line for vaccination.
Moderna's vaccine is the second approved in the country and will reinforce the campaign that began last week with the doses of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
The national vaccination campaign focuses this Monday on residences for the elderly.
Last week, healthcare workers were prioritized on the front lines of the battle against the pandemic.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health authorities debate this Monday
which groups should be prioritized
next.
A federal advisory panel on Sunday recommended that people
over 75 and essential workers
like firefighters, teachers and grocery store employees
stay on the line for vaccination
.
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CDC directors almost always accept the panel's recommendations.
Whatever the experts in the federal government decide, there will be differences from state to state, as various health departments have different ideas about who should be first in line.
How many doses will there be before the end of the year
It is expected that some six million doses will be distributed by more than 3,200 points in the country.
By the end of 2020, 20 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine, and the same amount of Moderna's, are expected to be distributed.
By March 2021, the first pharmaceutical company expects to have delivered 100 million more and, Moderna, 200 million.
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Who is still in line for vaccination
The vaccination campaign began last week and about 556,000 Americans have already received the vaccine, according to the CDC.
Health workers and nursing home residents
- totaling about 24 million people - were the first to be dosed in much of the United States, following the recommendation of experts.
The panel voted Sunday that next should be those
over 75
, who comprise about 20 million people, as well as some essential workers, who number about 30 million.
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The
essential workers
including firefighters and police, to the same teachers and educational personnel;
those who work in the food, agriculture and manufacturing sectors;
correctional employees;
those of the Postal Service of the country;
to public transport workers and those in grocery stores.
They are all considered to be at very high risk of contagion because their jobs are critical and require them to be in regular contact with other people.
How long it will take for these groups to receive the vaccine has not yet been determined.
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Those who should continue in line, according to specialists, are
people between 65 and 74 years old
, who number about 30 million, as well as those
between 16 and 64 years old
who have health problems such as obesity and cancer, who run greater risk if they contract COVID-19 and that number about 110 million, and a group of other essential workers.
That group of up to 57 million people includes a broad category of public service and food service employees, but also those who have legal and financial jobs, and in the media.
Millions of doses on the way
The second vaccine approved for emergency use in the United States to date, started this Sunday morning when trucks left with the first doses from a logistics center located in Olive Branch, Mississippi.
The courier companies UPS and FedEX are in charge of the transport.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this second vaccine last Friday after a panel of experts from this agency agreed that its benefits outweigh the risks when it is administered to people over 18 years of age. .
The boxes containing Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, ready to be shipped to McKesson's distribution center in Olive Branch, Mississippi, on Sunday, December 20, 2020. AP
On Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the nation's leading health institution, also voted to recommend the use of the vaccine.
Nearly three million doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine have already been distributed across the country, according to Gustave Perna, the general in charge of the government's plan to deliver it.
A part has already been administered to people at risk.
While Pfizer's requires ultra-cold temperatures for proper storage and transport, Moderna's does not require special freezers to store.
Both require two doses to be effective.
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This week, several governors denounced that they will receive half of the injections of the doses they expected from the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech in the coming weeks.
Perna acknowledged Saturday that there were "communication failures."
With information from AP.