We've brought you a lot of exciting vaccine news these past few weeks. And there's more of it on Tuesday. Center for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield said Americans should expect a vaccine to be rolled out very, very soon. He predicted the second week of December.
The next question then is, who will be receiving the first doses. He answered that too.
In an interview with Fox News anchor Dana Perino, Redfield shared that the first groups to get the vaccine will probably be "nursing home residents and then some combination of health care providers and individuals at high risk for a poor outcome."
JUST IN: CDC Director Robert Redfield tells @DanaPerino: The Covid-19 vaccine is going to begin to be rolled out probably by the end of the second week in December
— Sean Langille (@SeanLangille) November 24, 2020
"I do think we'll have about 40 million doses of vaccine before the end of the...year," Redfield continued. "That's enough to vaccinate 20 million people. But then it will continue through January and February and hopefully by March we'll start to see vaccine available for the general public."
Pfizer, who vaccine its been developing with BioNTech has produced a 95 percent efficacy rate, requested an emergency authorization from the FDA. A second vaccine candidate being produced by Moderna isn't too far behind, reporting a 94 percent effectiveness. And then a third, developed by AstraZeneca, is up to 90 percent effective.
The FDA has reportedly scheduled a meeting for Dec. 10 with its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee to discuss Pfizer's request.