Pfizer prepares for COVID-19 vaccine rollout, biggest vaccination effort in US history

Pfizer prepares U.S. COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in the history of the United States of America.

New Delhi: The first trucks carrying Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines pulled out of a Michigan manufacturing facility Sunday (December 13).

Shipments of the Pfizer vaccine will set in motion the biggest vaccination effort in the history of the United States of America.

The shipments from the factory to its final destination will be delivered under the security of US marshals.

"We have spent months strategizing with Operation Warp Speed officials and our healthcare customers on efficient vaccine logistics, and the time has arrived to put the plan into action," Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Healthcare, told Reuters on Saturday (December 12).

The US FDA authorized Pfizer`s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday (December 11) for the prevention of coronavirus disease in individuals 16 years of age and older.

A day after the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) granted an emergency use authorization to Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, President Donald Trump on Saturday (December 12) said that the US will start rolling out the vaccine "in less than 24 hours."President Trump also asserted that he had "made sure that this vaccine would be free to all Americans."

"The FDA`s authorization for emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine is a significant milestone in battling this devastating pandemic that has affected so many families in the United States and around the world," said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, MD.

"This action follows an open and transparent review process that included input from independent scientific and public health experts and a thorough evaluation by the agency`s career scientists to ensure this vaccine met FDA`s rigorous, scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization", he added.

The pandemic has killed 3,01,278 and infected 1,62,22,405 in the country.