On Friday, December 11th, the United States received perhaps the best news the country has gotten since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic back in mid-March. The United States became the third country, after the United Kingdom and Canada, to approve Pfizer’s vaccine for emergency use by the Food & Drug Administration(FDA), followed by Moderna’s vaccine approval for authorization emergency use on December 18th.
Many health care workers, long-term care residents, and politicians such as President Elect Joe Biden, Senator Mitch McConnell, Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have already received their vaccinations.
This raises a huge question: What does this mean for how much longer the worldwide pandemic could last?
Well, obviously, this is a huge step in the right direction for not only the U.S., a country that has specifically struggled in maintaining low cases and death numbers, but also, it is a step for the other countries that have approved the vaccine, as many around the world are chomping at the bit to get vaccinated in a bid to finally put an end to what has been a nightmare scenario.
However, as medical experts have made clear numerous times, this will not mean an immediate end to the pandemic. After all, even though the vaccine is currently being distributed, not everyone will get it right away. The vaccine will instead be distributed based on a priority list, with “two groups considered to be exceptionally high-risk — health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities such as nursing homes” receiving doses first, according to CNN’s Maggie Fox’s article “Some Americans should start getting the first Covid-19 vaccine today. It will take months before everyday people get the shots.”
Weeks before emergency use authorization, a Gallup panel poll states that from Oct 19th-Nov 1st, 58% of Americans say that they would take the Covid vaccine. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked recently at a virtual “When Public Health Means Business” event, when the United States can expect to see the pandemic come to an end, he said that a realistic plateau for the country would be the “third quarter” of next year, but he also acknowledged that this could really only be achieved if “75 percent” to “80 percent” of Americans agreed to take a vaccination.
Although, in a separate interview with CNN anchor and host, Jake Tapper a month ago, Fauci expressed optimism that the news that Pfizer’s vaccine was over 90% efficacy would help increase the number of people who would be willing to take a vaccination, saying, “I believe the incentive to get vaccinated will be greatly enhanced by the degree of efficacy. When you hear something is 90-95% effective, it makes it much more likely that someone would want to get vaccinated.”
With the recent news, it will still take a while for the vaccine to become widely available to the public. Fauci stated in the CNN interview that he believes that the vaccine would be available to all by April of next year, while CDC director Robert Redfield said in an interview with the Washington Post that “we are probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021.” Taking all of this into account, it is clear that, while the United States has gotten both a literal and figurative shot in the arm with the approval of a COVID-19 vaccination, it will still take a while before it is effective enough to help put an end to the crisis we face.
