Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser for the US Efforts on the coronavirus vaccines said that he planned to meet President-elect Joe Biden in the upcoming week. The vaccine is expected to be available for the first batch of Americans later in the month.
Slaoui said that he has not yet met Biden, who has spoken against the Trump administration’s plan for vaccine distribution. Biden had mentioned that his team had not yet seen the vaccine distribution plan to various states by the Trump administration. He mentioned that the vaccine needed to be out of a container into a syringe and into somebody’s arm for which a plan was needed and they had not seen any as yet. He went on to add that the vaccines needed to be stored at very low temperatures and the distribution process was very difficult and expensive. This needed a lot of planning.
According to Slaoui, the reason for the confusion could be that the government’s plan depends on the state health agencies to deliver the new vaccine. He said that once the plans were explained in detail, the transition team will understand the planning.
There has been a huge resurgence of the virus in the US, with a daily death toll that has exceeded 2,000. According to a recent tally 281,000 Americans have died from COVID – 19.
President Trump’s refusal to concede defeat has caused a delay in the transition process.
The first group to receive the vaccine after the U.S Food and Drug Administration approves it, will be health care workers and first responders.
Slaoui mentioned that the second group of people will most likely be essential workers like postal employees by February or March next year. This will be followed by vaccines to the general population.
