Some updates on vaccinations and vaccine development:
1. On Face the Nation this morning, Dr. Fauci Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Biden Administration's vaccination goal is 100 million "shots in arms within 100 days" and not 100 people vaccinated. He estimated this will mean 67 million people will be vaccinated. Some will be fully vaccinated and some will have received one dose.
Personally, I believe the 100 million doses in 100 days is not a new goal, since we were already tracking to this number prior to President Biden taking office. It is basically "sleeves out of his vest", since it is an accomplishment that would have likely occurred without any additional action on his administration's part, beyond what is already being done to ramp up vaccinations. A more aggressive goal would be 150 to 200 million vaccine doses in 100 days. There are indications we will have enough vaccine supply to achieve a higher goal and the states are starting to show significant improvements in vaccination rates.
As I have indicated before, I am tracking against this target, both for the US and NC and will provide updates starting next week with regards to how we are doing in meeting this goal.
2. Reports indicate the Johnson and Johnson vaccine trial could be close to concluding and there could be a read-out in the next couple of weeks. This was actually expected by some this past week, but it appears the reports are not ready yet. Dr. Fauci said a couple of days ago that we could have the J&J vaccine approved by mid-February. It might be possible if J&J submits their data and EUA to the FDA the first week of February, but it will be tight. A J&J board member said they may have 100 million doses available this Spring by end of April, but other reports I have seen indicate this may be difficult. Hopefully, we will get more clarity on supply in a couple of weeks when the EUA is filed. Two advantages of the J&J vaccine are that it does not need to be kept at super-cold temperatures (refrigerator temps are fine) and it only requires one dose, so supplies do not need to be reserved for a second dose.
3. For the AstraZeneca vaccine, it is still going through trials in the US. It was approved for use in the UK in December and Brazil in January. The AstraZeneca vaccine is a vector vaccine, like the J&J vaccine. However, it will require two shots to be fully effective, unlike the one-shot J&J vaccine. The trial results for the US and other countries have been a little confusing, but it appears efficacy could be around 70%. While good, this is not as effective as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine could be submitted for EUA by the end of March.
4. The Novavax vaccine entered Phase 3 trials in December and they are enrolling 30,000 participants in the US and Mexico. The vaccine requires two doses, given 21 days apart. Novavax expects to have results for this trial by early first quarter of this year.
5. There was a very good article posted yesterday on Operation Warp Speed and how well it worked in getting Covid-19 vaccines developed. I encourage everyone to read it. It was written by someone I have followed on Twitter for months - Alicia Smith. She has been on top of the vaccine development news for months. You can read the article at the following link:
Operation Warp Speed's Success 
