LA VACCINES — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards says the state should receive its first doses of a coronavirus vaccine within weeks if the proposed drug wins federal approval as expected. The governor shared vaccine details at a Wednesday briefing in Baton Rouge yesterday. Edwards explained Louisiana's initial allotment will be 1.46% of the available number of vaccines based on the state's population. For December Louisiana should receive about 80,000 Covid-19 vaccines divided in two shipments. The Covid-19 vaccine will be administered in two doses per person and given on a priority basis.
"For the month of December and probably the early part of January, we will be getting through the vaccinations of that first priority group: the hospital workers and the nursing home residents and staff," Edwards explained.
"Hopefully by February and March the weather starts getting warmer in some of the southern states, we have tens of millions of people vaccinated, we can start really knocking the edge off the pandemic." Adm. Brett Giroir, Assistant Health Secretary-US Dept of Health and Human Services
Edwards was joined by Louisiana native Admiral Brett Giroir who is the federal assistant health secretary and oversees U.S. testing operations for the Trump administration. Giroir cautioned that although shipments will be rolled out as soon as possible, it will still be months before most people get access to a vaccine.
"It maybe May or June by the time most Americans are able to get vaccinated but this is extremely good news," Giroir said. "Hopefully by February and March the weather starts getting warmer in some of the southern states, we have tens of millions of people vaccinated, we can start really knocking the edge off the pandemic."
The Food and Drug Administration advisory committee is set to meet on Dec. 10th, and could approve the Pfizer vaccine first as soon as 24 hours after the meeting, once that happens the second vaccine by Moderna is also expected to be approved shortly thereafter. Giroir said both vaccines appear to be more than 90% effective across all age groups but stressed that in the meantime – everyone should continue wearing masks and practice Governor Edwards’ coronavirus mitigation measures.
