Thousands of vials of the long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine are slated to arrive in all 50 states Monday, as top US health officials express hope that health care workers can begin administering the injections immediately.
The news comes after the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine cleared its final hurdle: Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accepted an advisory committee's recommendation Saturday that the vaccine may be given to people 16 and older, meaning it can now be administered in the United States.
In a statement issued Sunday, Redfield announced he had accepted the recommendation from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The first vaccinations are "set to start as early as Monday," he said.
"This is the next step in our efforts to protect Americans, reduce the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and help restore some normalcy to our lives and our country," he said in a statement.
Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, too, said his "greatest hope and desire" is that the vaccinations begin Monday.
"My hope, again, is that this happens very expeditiously, hopefully tomorrow," Hahn told CNN on Sunday. "We've seen the vaccines go out. We've seen the press reports of hospitals waiting to vaccinate health care workers and those most vulnerable."
Vaccines roll out: The decision comes the same day that the first batch of vaccines was loaded onto trucks at a Pfizer plant in Portage, Michigan, and shipped out across the country.
Freight trucks carrying about 184,275 vials of vaccine departed the plant, and the combined 189 boxes of vaccine vials are expected to arrive in all 50 states Monday.
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