Vice President Mike Pence told governors on Monday that distribution of a coronavirus vaccine could begin by the third week of December, signaling that U.S. regulators will swiftly approve an emergency authorization for the first shots.
“We strongly believe the vaccine distribution process could begin the week of December 14,” Pence told governors, according to a summary of the call provided by the office of Washington Governor Jay Inslee. “The American people deserve to know the cavalry is on the way.”
Pence told governors they will have the final say on vaccine distribution as the “ultimate arbiters” in their states, according to the summary.
Moderna Inc. joined Pfizer Inc. on Monday in requesting the FDA issue an emergency use authorization for its shot. Both vaccines are better than 90% effective, according to preliminary results of clinical trials, though their distribution challenges include requiring two shots.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also participated in the call.
An FDA advisory panel is scheduled to meet on Dec. 10 to discuss the vaccines. Azar told governors that distribution could begin within 24 hours of regulatory approval, while Pence said the administration believes that will be the week of the 14th. Vaccines will be largely administered by pharmacies such as those owned by CVS Health Corp. and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Azar said.
Everything is processing just about on the schedule that President Trump laid out during the summer. Operation Warp Speed has been an amazing success, thanks in a very large part to the President realizing early on that the “normal way” of government addressing a pandemic, with mountains of regulatory procedures, most either unnecessary or duplicative and all done in a sequential fashion at the speed of the typical government response times (dead slow at all times), would have resulted in a potential vaccine not materializing for 4 to 5 years. That is actually the typical time frame for vaccine development.
The logistical delivery plan for these vaccines was also something that President Trump insisted the military take on as part of Operation Warp Speed and he assigned a General to oversee and plan out how the vaccines would be delivered in the most expedient manner possible. Other past administrations, of both parties, have never even addressed this crucial step and instead put logistical delivery responsibility either in the hands of the drug companies themselves or the government did it in a hap hazard fashion. Resulting in either misallocation of resources or extensive time delays.
Instead President Trump took the novel approach, at least for government but quite common in the private sector, to do things in tandem and provide seed money to pay the 6 viable pharma companies identified to begin mass production should their vaccines prove effective and safe. This shaved YEARS off the typical development and delivery cycle for vaccines that would be ready for mass delivery to the public in phases. Yet no where will you see any of this discussed in the MSM today. The MSM claims this will be the new standard for all future vaccine delevopment, but nowhere will they give President Trump one ounce of credit. It all just magically happened in spite of the Evil Orange Man in the WH according to them.
If Operation Warp Speed is mentioned, neither President Trump nor V.P. Pence will be mentioned. Other than to blame the Trump administration for not handling the pandemic properly. In short, lie, lie lie just as they have done regarding everything for the last four years. The media either credits the military (a little bit), the individual pharma companies (a little bit more) or the entrenched federal bureaucracy (they credit this a lot!) for where we are today. They are already re-writing history to exclude the Trump / Pence administration from having anything to do with any of the successes in terms of Covid vaccines today. At least half the country is actually dumb enough to believe it.
A salute to everyone associated with Operation Warp Speed. Hopefully the vaccine will be available to anyone 65 or over with pre-existing conditions by February or March.
Everyone please call it the Trump Vaccine. If it weren’t for our President eliminating many obstacles and red tape, we would not have had a successful “Warp Speed” vaccine soon to be protecting all of us. President Trump caused this to happen, Give him credit every time you mention the vaccine.
My thoughts. They can take that vaccine and shove it where the sun don’t shine. Yes I voted for Trump. But I did not vote for a vaccine. And I’ll die before they stick that crap in me. They are going to have to just shoot me….