British health officials recommended that people with a history of severe allergic reactions forgo Pfizer’s vaccine after two such people experienced anaphylaxis. Both have recovered.
Each Friday, The Times will take a look back at this week in virus data. More than 3,000 people died in the United States from the virus on Wednesday alone. “We’re seeing steady case growth and explosive increases in deaths,” our colleague Mitch Smith wrote.
Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.
V-Day 2020
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue an emergency authorization for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine on Friday evening — a historic turning point in a pandemic that has taken more than 294,000 lives in the United States alone.
The decision had not been expected until Saturday, after an expert panel gave its approval on Thursday. It was accelerated after President Trump attacked the agency’s commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, for not approving a vaccine more quickly, and the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, threatened to fire him, according to a senior administration official.
The agency has tried to fast-track vaccine approval without undercutting public confidence in the process. The timing of the announcement appears unlikely to speed up the shipment of the initial doses of the vaccine.
Federal officials have said 2.9 million doses could be sent across the country within days to the first round of recipients, made up of health care workers and nursing home residents. Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia have already cleared the two-shot treatment, which has been 95 percent effective in preliminary trials.
Community leaders and health officials are working to dispel doubt about the vaccines’ safety. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said he would get the vaccine publicly to help build confidence.
But not everyone is as sure — even among people who know the toll the virus can take.
“Why not start with vaccinating the president and the people who developed the vaccine?” asked Maria Isabel Ventura, 59, whose husband spent two weeks in the hospital with a severe case. “I am afraid, more than anything, of this vaccine because we don’t know what reaction we will have to it. Maybe in a few months we’ll know more.”
Our colleagues interviewed people across the United States. Some are skeptical, some are impatient, and many spoke with candor and grace.
The New York Times