Will vaccinated people continue to transmit the virus?
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(CNN) -
Covid-19 vaccines will be distributed to vulnerable populations within days of an emergency use authorization (USA), an official said, as the United States struggles with a historic record of new daily cases.
"We will begin applying doses to the arms within 96 US hours," General Gustave Perna, director of operations for Operation Maximum Speed (or Operation Warp Speed, English) said Tuesday.
"That's what I believe with all my heart."
Pfizer and Moderna have vaccine candidates awaiting a USA, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed Pfizer's safety and efficacy ahead of Thursday's approval meeting.
Advance approval comes as the U.S. experiences spikes in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
The United States has recorded an average of 206,152 new cases per day over the past seven days, the highest number of cases from the pandemic so far.
And on Tuesday, 104,600 people were hospitalized with the virus, according to The Covid Tracking Project, a record that has been set and broken time and again in recent weeks.
In total, 286,232 people have died from the virus and more than 15.1 million people have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
People in general will likely have to keep dealing with the peaks of the holiday season until vaccines become widely available in 2021. But officials are racing to distribute vaccines in the coming days to priority populations: the elderly and health workers. Health.
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While it will be a "Herculean task," Perna said he is confident that, with CDC planning and partner collaboration, "we will be able to execute this vaccination very efficiently, but more importantly, effectively." .
States brace for vaccine distribution amid 'tragic milestones'
The impacts of the pandemic are spreading across the country, Undersecretary of Health and Human Services Admiral Brett Giroir told CNN on Tuesday.
Los Angeles County confirmed a total of 8,000 coronavirus deaths and more than 3,000 hospitalizations Tuesday, which the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health called a "tragic milestone" in a press release.
And Pennsylvania recorded its highest number of coronavirus hospitalizations on Tuesday.
As local leaders handle the escalating cases, many are also getting their vaccination plans in order.
In Illinois, although the first delivery is expected next week, it will take months to roll out a vaccine, even for priority groups, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said Tuesday during a conference. press.
Delaware also anticipates receiving its first shipment next week.
Dr. Karyl Rattay of the Delaware Division of Public Health announced Tuesday that the state expects about 9,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine around Dec. 15 and more than 8,000 from Moderna the following week.
Once Minnesota receives its first shipment of vaccines which is expected next week, they will be shipped directly to key hospitals or "centers" and then delivered to smaller clinics, Governor Tim Walz said during a news conference.
Minnesota, Illinois, Mississippi and Delaware have said healthcare workers and long-term care residents will be the first to get vaccinated.
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'Vaccines that are not used are useless'
But for vaccines to be effective, people have to get them, and officials are urging participation in vaccination.
"Vaccines that aren't used are useless," Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed's chief science advisor, said Tuesday.
"The vaccination is the important thing."
Its development has been rapid, but experts say that does not mean that vaccines are ineffective or unsafe.
Slaoui said the speed came from taking operational and financial risks to develop the vaccine, not from taking scientific shortcuts.
"The first thing to note is that speed has nothing to do with compromising safety or scientific integrity," said Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"It is due to the extraordinary and exquisite advances in vaccine platform technology that have allowed us to do things in weeks or months that used to take years, several years."
There is concern that many Americans are skeptical about getting vaccinated, but Fauci acknowledged a "painful disparity" in the prevalence of the virus among blacks, as well as a "reluctance and skepticism about getting vaccinated."
"I will tell them that I will feel perfectly comfortable getting the vaccine myself and would recommend it to my family," he said.
America must join forces for the holiday season
As more holidays approach, it is increasingly imperative that Americans recognize the realities of the pandemic and come together to mitigate its impacts, experts said.
«The end of the pandemic is in sight.
The vaccine will work, it will end the pandemic and bring us back as close to normal as possible, but we have to do our part right now, which are those mitigation techniques, "said Giroir.
The United States was registering 40,000 to 70,000 new coronavirus cases every day before Thanksgiving, and the addition of the spread of the holidays has caused a rise on top of a rise, Fauci said.
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And families and friends who come together for Christmas and Hanukkah could add another surge to the mix, leading to even worse impacts from the pandemic in December and January, he said.
"We are going to ask people to do something that is difficult and maybe even painful, particularly at the family level, that is to tell people, unless absolutely necessary, not to travel," he said. "
We said it on Thanksgiving and the same on Christmas.
CNN's Gisela Crespo, Jamiel Lynch, Lauren Mascarenhas, Shelby Lin Erdman, Naomi Thomas, and Jason Hanna contributed to this report.
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