US: Facing record levels of coronavirus, the United States began shipping the COVID-19 vaccine nationwide on Sunday as it launched a massive immunization effort, while in Germany an explosion of cases forced a return to partial lockdown.
Delivery trucks with special refrigeration equipment rolled out of a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as part of a public-private plan to ship millions of doses of the newly approved Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to vulnerable Americans.
Delivery services FedEx and UPS are deploying fleets of trucks and planes to carry their precious cargo -- sometimes under armed guard -- to all 50 states, where healthcare workers and nursing-home residents will be first in line.
As the historical mobilization unfolds, an initial 2.9 million doses are to be delivered by Wednesday, with officials saying 20 million Americans could receive the two-shot regimen by year end, and 100 million by March.
The vaccine received a further boost Sunday when the federal Centers for Disease Control accepted the FDA recommendation.
The US has recorded the world’s highest death toll, now exceeding 298,500, and the largest number of cases, at 16.1 million -- including more than 1.1 million new cases in just the past week.
Worldwide, there have been at least 1.6 million deaths and 71.6 million cases overall.
The start of the US vaccination campaign came as Germany announced a partial lockdown from Wednesday, with non-essential shops and schools to close in a bid to halt an “exponential growth” in infections.
The restrictions, agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders, will apply through the holidays until January 10, with companies also urged to allow employees to work from home or offer extended company holidays.Europe’s biggest economy has been severely hit by a resurgence of the coronavirus, with daily new infections more than three times their springtime peak. Daily death tolls last week approached 600. Italy, meanwhile, overtook Britain as the European nation with the highest coronavirus death toll.
Italy has recorded 64,520 deaths, surpassing Britain’s 64,267. UPS and FedEx are to ship glass vials of the vaccine to 636 sites around the country by Wednesday.
Some 2.9 million doses are being shipped in boxes containing dry ice that can keep supplies at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), the frigid temperature needed to preserve the drug.
Trials have shown the vaccine to be 95 percent effective, and Americans are being told it is safe unless they have an allergy to any of the drug’s components. - AFP
