[Following is from APNews] A panel of U.S. advisers will meet Tuesday to vote on how scarce, initial supplies of a COVID-19 vaccine will be given out once one has been approved.
Experts have proposed giving the vaccine to health workers first. High priority also may be given to workers in essential industries, people with certain medical conditions and people age 65 and older.
Tuesday’s meeting is for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The panel of experts recommends who to vaccinate and when — advice that the government almost always follows. The agenda for next week’s emergency meeting was posted Friday.
FDA’s scientific advisers are holding a public meeting Dec. 10 to review Pfizer’s request, and send a recommendation to the FDA.
Manufacturers already have begun stockpiling coronavirus vaccine doses in anticipation of eventual approval, but the first shots will be in short supply and rationed.
[Following is an excerpt from ThePointsGuy blog] The airlines are masters of logistics so it’s no wonder that the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that pharmaceutical company Pfizer has tapped United to help position the COVID-19 vaccine it developed in concert with BioNTech around the world.
While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved Pfizer’s vaccine, the company is already tackling the immense challenge of distribution in a bid to be at the ready when approval is imminent.
For its part on Friday, United Airlines began flying charter flights between Brussels International Airport and Chicago O’Hare to move doses of the vaccine so it’s where it has to be when Pfizer is given the OK to begin vaccinating people.
According to the reporting done by the Wall Street Journal, the FAA approved the airline to carry five times the normal amount of dry ice per flight. The 15,000 pounds of dry ice will be packed in Pfizer-developed boxes — about the size of a suitcase — that will keep the vaccine doses cold.
United won’t be the only airline or transportation company involved in vaccine distribution (be it from Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson). The Wall Street Journal article also talked about American Airlines’ trial flights from Miami to South America, which is part of a test of the efficacy of its vaccine thermal packaging and procedures.
