White House hopes to have enough COVID-19 vaccine for 20 million Americans in December
But this relies on Pfizer getting emergency approval from the FDA.
The US government's Operation Warp Speed has announced it's hoping to have enough doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 20 million Americans in December. Speaking during a press conference Friday held by President Donald Trump, Operation Warp Speed leader Moncef Slaoui said that after December, he hopes to have enough vaccine doses for 25 million to 30 million more Americans per month.
This timeline, however, relies on the vaccine getting emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
The press conference followed US pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Monday announcing it has a vaccine that it says was 90% effective during trials. The company said it tested the vaccine on more than 40,000 people across six nations, with no serious concerns found.
Pfizer is planning to apply for FDA emergency approval next week, adding that if it receives the go-ahead, it'll produce around 50 million doses in 2020 and 1.3 billion in 2021. Pfizer's vaccine would require people to take two shots three weeks apart.
Pfizer was not part of Operation Warp Speed and did not receive funding from the government.