Distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine could begin this week if approval is given by the Food and Drug Administration.
The independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to review data concerning vaccines by Pfizer and BioNTech, USA Today reported. If one or both are recommended for "emergency use," the FDA is expected to authorize distribution.
Authorization for one or both candidates would mark the shortest approval time for a fully vetted vaccine. The previous record was four years for a mumps vaccine.
Developers insist the process to attain a successful inoculation has been solid despite global urgency to find a COVID-19 vaccine. Time was saved by simultaneously conducting steps that previously would been done separately.
Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, told reporters 2.9 million doses will be distributed if a vaccine is approved, according to CNBC. Since each recipient must take two doses, Perna said 2.9 million doses will be set aside for people who take an initial vaccine.
A half million doses also will be stockpiled "so that we make sure that in case we need to react to some situation we had some reserves," Perna said.
The Defense Department announced plans for vaccine distribution to members in a Wednesday news release. Military personnel at select bases around the country will be among the initial recipients.
Operation Warp Speed's Dr. Moncef Slaoui said the general public could see access to the vaccine "by the middle of the month of January or early February, when we've had five, six weeks of rolling, high-cadence manufacturing, and that we see that things are rolling perfectly."
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