- Biden warns ‘more people may die’ unless Trump starts cooperating
- Trump ‘considered striking Iran’s nuclear sites’ after election loss
- Major hurdles ahead for Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the US
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NBC’s Joe Scarborough has this analysis of what is happening with Republicans and Covid in the wake of the election. He suggests that with the vote behind them, some Republicans are now making serious anti-Covid policies that they decried during the campaign.
Members of the Trump Cult said that Covid would disappear after the election. What has changed instead are the policies of some Republicans. With the election behind them, they can now follow science and medicine instead of mocking them. https://t.co/SHvud3BRi8
Speaking of vaccines, Pfizer has launched a pilot delivery program for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine in four US states, as the drugmaker seeks to address distribution challenges posed by its ultra-cold storage requirements.
The drugmaker said it had selected Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee for the program because of their differences in overall size, diversity of populations and immunisation infrastructure, as well as the states’ need to reach individuals in varied urban and rural settings.
The first on the list to receive the vaccine are healthcare workers, but herein too is a challenge. There is commonly a nursing shortage in the US, but healthcare facilities are facing more extreme staff shortages because of the enormous spread of Covid-19 across the US.
In many cases, the same workers who test the public will have to turn around and vaccinate fellow workers. Those doses will need to be metered out, because potentially flu-like side-effects from the virus could sideline some. For that reason, a hospital could not vaccinate its entire intensive care unit at once.
Related: Here are the major hurdles ahead for Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the US
