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Covid-19 Vaccine for everyone becoming possible
- Updated: March 19, 2021
President Biden made a pledge on Tuesday March 2 to have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses for all American adults by the end of May this year. This would be a huge step in the recovery from the pandemic. Recent developments make this time frame look possible.
The first vaccine to be approved for the public in the US was the one produced by Pfizer. That vaccine started being adminsitered December 11, 2021. Later in December the Moderna produced vaccine was approved. Both of these vaccines are administered in two doses either 21 or 28 days apart.
On February 27 of this year, the Johnson & Johnson (JnJ) produced vaccine was approved for use in the US. Not only is this a new supply chain for vaccines, but this one is administered in a single dose and can be stored for a much longer time in a regular refrigerator. Because of the intense demand for this vaccine, JnJ partnered with drug manufacturer Merck to deliver doses more quickly. The current goal is for JnJ and Merck to deliver 100 million doses by the end of May this year.
The United States Currently has about 260 million adults. According to a CDC report over 32 million Americans have been fully vaccinated and another 30 million have recieved their first dose of a two dose vaccination. Over 2 million doses are being administered across the united states every day. Most of these vaccinations are from the Pfizer and Moderna Vaccines.
Currently about 8.6% of adult Texans have been fully vaccinated with another 7.3% having recieved just the first dose.
AstraZeneca and Novavax have also submitted for US approval. AstraZeneca’s Vaccine is already approved in Europe and the UK. Novavax is still in the results period of its first trials.
Supply should not be a problem very soon. There are still logistical challenges in vaccine delivery and storage. These are known issues that have been handled so far with current distribution. A new challenge will be getting healthier, less at risk, and less worried people to take the time to get vaccinated. This will likely take a marketing campaign that was not need up to now.
This supply will still be important. According to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker only Israel has a higher percentage of vacinated citizens than the United State. All other countries have less than 5% fully vaccinated. For some countries the major issues are supply, safety and logistics. But for some it is economics. These vaccines are produced at a cost of $10-25 per dose. Add to that cost, personell and equiment for delivery, the cost per person vaccinated could easily be over $30. That would mean $300 millon to vaccinate 10 million adults. That could be difficult for some countries after the passed year of a depressed economy. Foriegn aid will certainly be needed.
