Americans will begin to be vaccinated on Monday, December 14, against Covid-19, following the arrival in the United States on the same day of the first batches of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines.

"The distribution has started" and "the first shipments will arrive on Monday morning", announced Saturday, December 12, General Gus Perna of Operation Warp Speed ​​set up by the American government to ensure the delivery of the vaccine. .

"We are 100% operationally confident that we will deliver the vaccine to Americans," he added.

US President Donald Trump said Friday evening, in the wake of the emergency authorization from health authorities, that the first injections of this first vaccine would take place within 24 hours, that is to say on Saturday.

But Pfizer has indicated that the first batches will not leave its factory in Michigan until Sunday morning for the UPS and FedEx distribution centers.

"We can expect 145 sites across all states to receive the vaccine on Monday, an additional 425 sites on Tuesday. And the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the first delivery of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine," General Perna explained. .

This first phase concerns around three million people.

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) have recommended that residents of retirement homes and professionals in the health sector be given priority.

Most states should follow these recommendations.

A 95% efficiency rate

The United States is the most bereaved country in the world by the pandemic, with 295,000 dead and more than 15 million cases.

The country continues to record contamination records, regularly exceeding 200,000 cases and 2,500 or even 3,000 daily deaths.

The Pfizer vaccine, of which the US government has pre-purchased 100 million doses, is 95% effective, which means that it reduces the chances of contracting Covid-19 by the same amount.

It has already started being administered in the UK, and a handful of other countries, such as Canada, Mexico or Bahrain, have given the green light before the US.

Obviously impatient, Donald Trump put pressure on the FDA on Friday, described as "the big slow turtle", urging him on Twitter to authorize "the damn vaccine NOW".

According to the Washington Post, the White House had even summoned the boss of the agency Stephen Hahn to announce the green light on Friday or to resign.

The FDA finally gave its emergency authorization on Friday evening.

"We worked quickly because of the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any external pressure", assured Stephen Hahn on Saturday, during a virtual press conference.

> For

 the

ire also: Covid-19, allergic reactions to vaccines, a rare side effect

The agency also clarified the cases of allergies considered to be contraindications to the administration of this vaccine, after two cases of serious allergies reported in the United Kingdom this week.

Such reactions "have not been seen in the data of large clinical trials," and "we will continue to monitor them very closely," said another official of the FDA, Peter Marks.

He explained that the vaccine would only be recommended for patients who have had "severe allergic reactions" to its components or to similar vaccines in the past, and not for all those prone to severe allergies in the broader sense.

"Some 1.6% of the population has had a severe allergic reaction to food or related to environmental conditions. We really do not want so many people to be deprived of the vaccine," he insisted.

"We tell people that unless they have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine or one of its ingredients in the past, they can take it," he added.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR