The Economist - USA (2020-11-28)

TheEconomistNovember 28th 2020 21

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sked whatkeeps her up at night as
Texas prepares for the arrival of the
first covid-19 vaccines, Imelda Garcia from
the state’s health department singles out
two opposite scenarios: either a serious
shortage of vaccine, or lots of it sitting
around unused because nobody wants to
take it. These two worries are on the minds
of many other public-health experts as
6.4m doses of vaccine stand ready to be dis-
patched across America, on a nod by the
Food and Drug Administration (fda), the
federal drug regulator.
That nod is expected on December 10th
or shortly after, when the fdawill make a
decision on the first covid-19 vaccine sub-
mitted for approval in America, a jab devel-
oped by the drug firms Pfizer and Bion-
Tech. Moderna, the developer of another
vaccine, is expected to undergo fda review
on December 17th. Both vaccines are about
95% effective if administered in a two-dose
regimen. They are unlikely to stem Ameri-

ca’s runaway epidemic until next spring, at

best. But America is leading the way on co-

vid-19 vaccination—so lessons from its ear-

ly experience will be closely watched in Eu-

rope and other parts of the world.

Organising America’s supplies of co-

vid-19 vaccines is the task of Operation

Warp Speed, a programme set up by the

current administration in May. It pre-pur-

chased 100m doses of both Pfizer’s and Mo-

derna’s vaccines this summer, and large

quantities have already been made. Each

firm expects to have about 20m doses ready

to distribute in America by the end of this

year. This amount is roughly what would

be needed to inoculate all America’s

health-care workers, who are a priority

group for the first vaccine supplies.

Next will come groups particularly vul-

nerable to the disease, including essential

workers at high risk of infection (such as

police officers, teachers and bus drivers),

care-home residents, people with high-

risk medical conditions and those over 65.

The order of priority between these groups,

which are suggested by the Centres for Dis-

ease Control and Prevention (cdc) and oth-

er national health agencies, may vary

somewhat from state to state. The current

plan is that vaccine supplies, as they be-

come available, will be divvied up among

states and six big metropolitan areas pro-

portionately to their population. Each state

will decide how to distribute them. At the

current pace of vaccine production, wide-

spread vaccination of the elderly is not on

the cards until February.

The logistics of vaccinating more than

300m Americans would be daunting with

any vaccine. But Pfizer’s will be “extremely

challenging”, says Claire Hannan of the As-

sociation of Immunisation Managers. “It’s

nothing like we’ve seen before,” she says.

The vaccine must be stored at -70°C, which

The covid-19 vaccines

Grabbing a cold one

America is about to roll out a covid-19 vaccine. Here is how the federal
government and states plan to do it

United States

22 Thevirusandtheheartland

23 TeamBidenand the transition

24 Genderwars

25 Obscurelaws

26 Lexington: The end of the

embarrassment

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