US CDC tells states to prepare for coronavirus vaccine by November

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked the states to prepare to distribute a potential COVID-19 vaccine to high-risk groups as soon as early November, documents published by the New York Times showed. 

The timing of the vaccine coincides with the presidential election, scheduled on November 3, in which President Donald Trump is seeking re-election. 

The New York Times had earlier reported that the CDC had contacted officials in all 50 states and five large cities with the planning information.

The CDC documents showed the agency is preparing for one or two COVID-19 vaccines to be available as soon as late October. It described two vaccine candidates that must be stored at temperatures of minus 70 and minus 20 degrees Celsius. These match with profiles of candidates from Pfizer and Moderna, according to Reuters. 

Also read: ‘Led by corrupt WHO’: US says it will not join global effort to find COVID-19 vaccine

Among those ahead in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine are Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. 

Also, Dr Anthony Fauci, USA’s top infectious diseases expert told MSNBC on Wednesday that based on the patient enrollment rate in COVID-19 vaccine trials underway, there could be enough clinical data to know by November or December that one of the vaccines is safe and effective.

With over 6.1 million cases and more than 186,000 deaths, USA is the worst-hit nation by coronavirus.