When Do We Get The Vaccine?

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Townhall posted an article today about the coronavirus vaccine.

The article reports:

James Hildreth, a top vaccine adviser for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the federal agency will decide on Thursday whether or not it will grant emergency use authorization (EUA) for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine candidate. 

“We’ll spend the day on Thursday reviewing the data from Pfizer, and at the end of the day, a vote will be taken. So, by the end of the day next Thursday, there could be a decision made about the vaccine,” Hildreth told NBC News on Saturday.

As far as when the first vaccinations might happen in the United States, the FDA adviser said that could begin as soon as Friday. 

The article continues:

The Trump administration has prioritized the development of vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus and news about Pfizer’s development of a safe and effective vaccine candidate arrived much sooner than many top experts had predicted. And vaccinations beginning on Friday is more welcome news as coronavirus cases surge across the nation and some states and local governments prepare for another round of lockdowns.

Pfizer announced in early November that its vaccine candidate developed with BioNTech SE was show to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 infections, well above the FDA’s efficacy requirement of 50 percent for a vaccine.

The article concludes:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should be prioritized for vaccination. Individuals over the age of 65, essential workers, and those with underlying medical conditions should be vaccinated in a second phase.

It seems to me that any first responders should also be put at the top of the list.

This vaccine has been rushed through. It seems to be safe at least in the short term, but we have no way of knowing what the long term effects will be. However, if it will get us back to interacting with each other without being scared to death, I think it is probably a good thing.