The Timeline for the Vaccine Rollout
The counteroffensive against the pandemic entered its next phase earlier this week, when 90-year-old Maggie Keenan became the first Brit to receive the initial dose of the United Kingdom’s rollout of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, the U.S. effort is also moving forward, with some big milestones coming up this month. Here’s what the timeline looks like.
Dec. 10: The Vaccine Advisory Board at the Food and Drug Administration will meet to consider emergency approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Dec. 11 or 12 is likely to see the beginning of U.S. inoculations for the Pfizer vaccine, since they are expected to begin 24–48 hours after FDA approval.
Dec. 17: The Vaccine Advisory Board is expected to consider Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Dec. 18 or 19: Moderna’s vaccine is set to reach patients.
End of December: 40 million doses of vaccine are expected to be delivered by Pfizer and Moderna, which will cover approximately 20 million people.
January or February 2021: Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine is expected to come online, offering additional options and capacity for COVID-19 vaccines, while deliveries of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are expected to multiply nationally. The goal is to have another 80 million people vaccinated during these two months.
By June 2021: 600 million vaccines in total are expected to be produced by a range of manufacturers, which means that everyone who wants a vaccine will have access to it at little to no cost.