September 4, 2020
The US’s present administration has promised a network of COVID-19 vaccine distribution centers will be “fully operational” when November 1 comes.
The states have been advised to get ready for a possible COVID-19 vaccine to be available two days before the presidential election.
From across the world, governments are hopeful to announce a vaccine as soon likely to reopen economies that have been grasped to comprise an illness that has killed more than 850,000 individuals and infected over 25 million.
In a broadly dispersed letter, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has asked the states to sweep away the red tape that could prevent a network of vaccine distribution centers from being “fully operational by November 1, 2020”.
It is two days before voters head to the polls in an election that has been clouded by the coronavirus and the economic crisis it provoked. This sparks the concerns that President Donald Trump’s administration hastened to have the vaccine before November 3.
“The normal time required to obtain … permits presents a significant barrier to this urgent public health program’s success,” CDC head Robert Redfield said in the August 27 letter.
“CDC urgently requests your assistance in expediting applications for these distribution facilities.”
The essential workers, national security officials, seniors, and members of vulnerable racial and ethnic groups will be given priority.
Western drugmakers are succeeding with their phase three clinical trials, which involve tens of thousands of participants.
In England, AstraZeneca partners with Oxford University while Moderna works together with the US National Institutes of Health.
On the other hand, Pfizer and BioNTech are joining the third candidate.
During the normal processes, test administrators must wait – undoubtedly for months – to prove that vaccine candidates work and are harmless.
The US Food and Drug Administration, however, has raised the likelihood that a vaccine might be given alternative authorization before the end of trials.
The FDA has tackled rising disapproval from the medical community that it is kneeling to political gravity from Trump, who is behind Democratic contender Joe Biden in the polls and has said one might be prepared before the election.
Laurie Garrett, an award-winning epidemiology writer, recently asked on Twitter;
“This means mass vaccination nationwide could start in 59 days. FIFTY-NINE DAYS. Is any #COVID19 #vaccine likely to have completed Phase 3 safety and efficacy clinical trials, and gone through full scientific and @US_FDA review in 59 days?”
“To my knowledge, none of the US #COVID19 #vaccines have finished even enrolling test subjects for Phase 3 trials. Rushing this to completion within 59 days is DANGEROUS.”
Stephen Hahn, the FDA chief, however, has denied that he is acting under pressure from Trump. He argues that any vaccine approval would be a “science, medicine, data decision.”
As of the moment, the US has registered more than 6 million COVID-19 cases; it shows that almost a quarter of the global total and several 185,000
Shutdowns have taken a toll on the livelihoods across the globe as business incomes drop, and millions are forced to get out of work.
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