Germany, UK, & US could likely begin COVID-19 vaccinations in December

As the G20 leaders vow to ensure fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and drugs worldwide, Germany, UK, and US, each have reportedly announced their plans of starting vaccinations in their respective countries by December. Meanwhile, Spain has stated that it would start providing the vaccine to its citizens from January.

As per reports by an established UK newspaper, Britain might give regulatory approval to COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, much before the US approves it. Pfizer and BioNTech might secure an emergency authorization from Europe and the U.S. for their COVID-19 vaccine, only after the final-stage trial results showcase no severe side effects and a 95% success rate. 

Moncef Slaoui, the head of the United States vaccine program, stated that the first people in the U.S. to receive the vaccine might receive it as early as 11 December.

Meanwhile, Britain has officially asked its medical regulator, the MHRA, to analyze the suitability of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Jens Spahn, Germany’s health minister, stated that the country has secured nearly 300 million vaccine doses through the European Commission, bilateral contracts, as well as options.

Spahn further added that this stockpile of doses is sufficient for the country and would even leave some room for the country to share the remaining doses with other countries.

Pedro Sanchez, Prime Minister of Spain, stated that the country would start a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination programme from January and is expecting to at least cover a considerable part of the population within a span of three months. The campaign would start in January having nearly 13,000 vaccination points across the country.

As per the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, approximately 2 billion dosages of COVID-19 vaccines would be shipped as well as flown to a number of developing nations in the coming year as a part of a “mammoth operation”.

The agency further stated that it is working with nearly 350 airlines along with freight companies for delivering a billion syringes and vaccines to poorer countries like Yemen, Afghanistan, and Burundi as part of Covax, a worldwide plan for COVID-19 vaccine allocation with the WHO.

Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/23/us-germany-and-uk-could-start-covid-vaccinations-as-early-as-december