FDA grants emergency approval to Pfizer vaccine in the US

Initially, a shipment of 2.9 million doses of the vaccine will be distributed to priority personnel, but Pfizer has a deal with the US to have 25 million doses distributed by end of the year, and 100 million doses by March of 2021, under the condition that vaccination remains free to the public.

The United States joins the UK, Bahrain, Canada, Mexico and Saudia Arabia in authorizing the Pfizer made the vaccine, with the United Kingdom and Russia already inculcating their citizens against the virus, Russia, however, utilizing their Sputnik vaccine as opposed to the now universally approved Pfizer vaccine.

Despite the emergency approval and shipping of the vaccine already in place, health officials remain worried about insufficient funding for the largest immunization campaign the US has ever undergone, with only 350 million granted of the 8.4 billion they asked for to be able to do their job which includes vaccine tracking, training medical personnel and convincing the public of the importance of vaccination.

Meeting public demand for the vaccine might also be a challenge as Pfizer stated that they may not be able to provide an additional 100 million doses to the US by the agreed-upon date due to its planned agreements with other countries.

The United States remains the world’s most infected nation with over 16 million cases, as well as having the fastest rate of infections with a daily record of 140,00 most recently and the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths at 306,060 deaths thus far.