Advisory Panel Recommends FDA Approval Of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Food and Drug Administration' Vaccines Advisory Committee Thursday recommended Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine be approved for emergency use, which would trigger a massive distribution effort. Hospitals are in standby mode, expecting to get a green light from the FDA any time.
Hospitals will be ready to deploy the vaccine within hours.
Thursday was marked by hour after hour of discussion by members of the committee, which is made up of a group of independent medical experts tasked with voting on whether the FDA should authorize the vaccine. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendation, but they usually do.
"Our staff is ready to go," said Dr. Alan Kumar, chief medical officer of Munster Community Hospital.
The hospital is one of five "pre-positioning" sites in Indiana expected to get the first doses.
In Illinois 10 hospitals are also standing by after being picked as central distribution points for the region, including Advocate Aurora Health system's Christ Medical Center.
"This is an incredible landmark. The fact that this vaccine was able to be developed in such a short amount of time is one of the great scientific achievements of our time," said Dr. Robert Citronberg, Advocate Aurora Health executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention.
Thursday Kumar said they have a detailed playbook. That they will be following once they get the shipment, which he is anticipating will be around Dec. 15.
"We will be ready to go as soon as we get that the vaccine is already apparently in the storage centers at a secret location state of Indiana," he said.
He does not even know where the vaccine is being stored.
"Once it hits our doors and where we will be starting," he said.
Pfizer has said it will start sending vaccines out within hours of the FDA emergency authorization. Trays of vaccines will be unloaded from freezers and shipped out. There is a tracker in each box that will watch for both location and temperature. Community Hospital is expecting roughly 2,000 doses in its first week.
"We put a lot of hours to make sure that this is going to go very clearly and cleanly," Kumar said.
On the panel, 17 voted yes, four voted now, and one person abstained.
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