MADISON, Wis. — On Friday morning, the FDA announced that it would work toward finalizing the emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Matt Anderson, senior medical director of primary care at UW Health, said this means vaccine shipments will probably start being sent out sometime between Monday and Wednesday of next week.
“This is one step in the process and obviously there are a couple more steps needed, but we’re excited and ready to get started for sure,” said Anderson.
He said the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a group within the CDC, as well as the Wisconsin Department of Health Services must also approve the vaccine before it can be given out. He expects both of these organizations might give the go ahead by the end of next week.
“This is a tool that we’re going to have now at our disposal to start dropping that community spread further, have fewer people being hospitalized, fewer complications. And hopefully at some point here, probably many months from now, but we can sort of see that light at the end of the tunnel coming that many months from now we have that hope to get back to a more pre-COVID like state,” said Anderson.
He said UW Health is expecting about 4,000 doses of the vaccine in the first shipment. Without a finalized plan from DHS, the hospital is unsure how many of those doses will go to UW Health workers and how many will be stored for employees at surrounding hospitals.
He hopes the vaccine brings a sense of relief to frontline workers.
“Not that they would stop using their PPE, not that they’re going to stop physical distancing or doing those other things, but it does give them a little bit of a sense of comfort and well-being we hope as well to know that there is this added layer of protection,” said Anderson.
But even with all healthcare workers vaccinated, which will take multiple shipments and many months, he said that won’t be enough to stop the spread.
The community needs to continue social distancing at the same time that immunizations ramp up.
“We know that people are still vulnerable in the current state and we’re going to have a lot of that risk still for the coming months,” said Anderson. “If we don’t do those things, we’re going to have people overwhelming our healthcare system by being hospitalized, being ill, having complications that they don’t need to have.”
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