Another Major Vaccine Set for Distribution as COVID-19 Rages

In places like New York City and Los Angeles, American citizens are finding themselves once again locked down on account of the coronavirus crisis.

This resurgence in cases comes at a peculiar time, however, as several vaccines are being distributed to the public after clinical testing found them to be highly effective against the novel disease.

First, there was the collaborative effort between Pfizer and BioNtech, which began making its way to prioritized individuals just yesterday.  Now it appears as though a second inoculation, this one from Moderna, could be on its way to the masses.

U.S. officials said on Monday they are planning to ship just under 6 million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine once it receives emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.

CNBC reports that McKesson, a medical supply company, will receive doses of the Moderna vaccine for packaging and distributing to 3,285 sites, according to Gen. Gustave Perna, who is in charge of logistics for Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s COVID-19 vaccine program. Perna said that UPS and FedEx have been tasked with getting the vaccine doses to their final locations.

The rollout is in planning as we speak.

CNBC reports that the vaccine could be approved as early as Friday, one week after Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was granted emergency use authorization. Similar to Pfizer, Moderna’s vaccine is given in two doses spaced four weeks apart.

“The difference in quantities was about what was available when we were doing planning for initial delivery,” said Perna. “As early as 15th [of] November, I snapped the chalk line on what was available to Pfizer so states could do the planning. … We wanted them to have enough time as possible to do the planning and realize where they wanted to go first.”

The recent uptick in coronavirus cases around the nation has been due to factors ranging from COVID “fatigue” to the cooler temperatures, which force more Americans indoors where social distancing is a far more precarious prospect.