Pfizer Covid-19 Vaccine’s Next Big Challenge: Giving It to Enough People
With Pfizer Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine on track to be authorized as early as next month, Western governments are facing an enormous logistical challenge: getting enough people shots of new vaccines. While previous vaccination programs have spread over years and focused on specific demographics such as children or the elderly, governments are hoping to do something they never have done before and inoculate a majority of the population in a matter of months
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-big-challenge-after-a-covid-vaccine-is-giving-it-to-enough-people-11604945455
The ‘last mile’ for COVID-19 vaccines could be the biggest challenge yet
Already, two companies have announced that their vaccines appear safe and about 95 percent effective (SN: 11/18/20, SN: 11/16/20). Government regulators in the United Kingdom granted permission December 2 for emergency use of a vaccine made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German biotech partner BioNTech. The first doses could be delivered within days of the announcement. Emergency use authorization and even full approval of the vaccines is probably not far off in the United States and other countries. But another race is just beginning. Ultimately, the vaccines won’t truly be successful until enough people have gotten them to stop the spread of the virus and prevent severe disease and death. And that will pose a logistical challenge unlike any other.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid19-coronavirus-vaccine-last-mile-logistics-pfizer-moderna
When will the COVID19 pandemic end?
Since we published our first outlook, on September 21st, the COVID-19 pandemic has raged on, with more than 25 million additional cases and more than 400,000 additional deaths. While the situation looks somewhat better in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, much of Europe and North America is in the midst of a “fall wave,” with the prospect of a difficult winter ahead. Yet the past two weeks have brought renewed hope, headlined by final data from the Pfizer/BioNTech1 vaccine trial and interim data from the Moderna trial, both showing efficacy of approximately 95 percent2 ; and progress on therapeutics. Is an earlier end to the pandemic now more likely?
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/when-will-the-covid-19-pandemic-end
