WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC) – New details are out on how and when a COVID vaccine would be distributed. This comes as federal agencies, states, and health care facilities gear up for a possible approval this month.
The FDA said it is working seven days a week to analyze the data and following the guidelines to make sure all vaccines are safe and effective.
With the British government set to distribute Pfizer vaccine within the coming days, all eyes are on the FDA with public pressure being dialed up on the agency to come forward with its own authorization.
They say they are painstakingly going through every line of data from Pfizer before they grant this authorization. They will also hold a public hearing with a vaccine advisory board. The hope is that a transparent process will help boost public confidence in the vaccine.
Once that authorization comes through, HHS and the Department of Defense say they could have doses out within a matter of hours.
In the country, there are still questions about distribution and concerns. Among them this issue of getting this Pfizer vaccine, which has to be stored in sub-freezing temperatures, to rural areas.
The CEO of a health care company in Kansas says that state only has ten facilities that can actually store the vaccine. He’s worried that it’s going to be difficult the get his health care workers vaccinated. He will have to take them off the job, and remember, it takes two doses to be vaccinated. They will have to come off the job to get those vaccinations and they are desperately needed.
The other question is one of money. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said it’s going to cost $1 billion to vaccinate the entire state and, so far, there’s no federal assistance to make that happen.
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