US set for coronavirus vaccine roll-out as Germany to enter Christmas lockdown

Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are being distributed as part of Operation Warp Speed

The US has recorded over 16 million cases, as Italy overtook Britain’s death toll and Germany was set to enter lockdown

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A truck is shown at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Michigan, ahead of the coronavirus vaccine roll-out. Photo: AP

Published: 3:00pm, 13 Dec 2020Updated: 10:35pm, 13 Dec 2020

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will reach hospitals and other sites across the United States by Monday morning, a top official said, ready to be injected into the arms of millions of the most vulnerable Americans.

It comes as infections in the US continue to soar, with 1.1 million new cases confirmed in the past five days and a death toll nearing 300,000. Over the past two weeks the US has repeatedly exceeded 2,000 coronavirus-related deaths per day, rivalling tolls it saw in the early days of the pandemic.

The US has recorded more than 16 million cases of Covid-19, by far the most of any country in the world, according to data kept by Johns Hopkins University. India and Brazil are the only two other countries that have reported more than 3 million cases, as the world’s death toll exceeded 1.6 million people.

Doses of the Pfizer vaccine began leaving the company’s factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Sunday, stored in boxes containing dry ice that are capable of staying at -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit), the frigid temperature needed to preserve the drug.

General Gus Perna, who is overseeing the massive logistical operation as part of the government’s Operation Warp Speed, likened the moment to D-Day, the turning point of the second world war.

“I am absolutely 100 per cent confident that we are going to distribute safely, this precious commodity, this vaccine, needed to defeat the enemy Covid,” he told reporters.