As Indiana Hospitals Prepare To Vaccinate Hoosiers, Health Experts Reassured After UK Approval

WASHINGTON — With a coronavirus vaccine having been approved for use in the United Kingdom, health experts in the United States are even more convinced the latest vaccine candidates will work to stop the pandemic.
Pfizer’s vaccine candidate was approved for use by the National Health Service in Great Britain this week. The same vaccine is up for authorization by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S.
“While the FDA completes its review, the approval by another independent regulatory body should give Americans additional confidence in the quality of such a vaccine,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “Vaccines will only bring this pandemic to an end if enough Americans choose to take these vaccines.”
Indiana hospitals are already being lined up as vaccination centers in anticipation of approval. One of those hospitals will by IU Health in Carmel. IU Health nursing executive Melissa Hicks tells WISH-TV they don’t know how much of a vaccine they will get once it’s approved.
“That will happen as the number of vaccines increases and we can meet the demand,” she said. “There are lots of projections out there for when that will happen and we’re really hoping early next year.”
Hicks said they plan to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers first then essential workers such as police officers and EMTs. Once they are taken care of they can move on to the general public. But, she said that all depends on how much of a vaccine is manufactured.
While we wait for authorization from the FDA, Azar is still encouraging you to do your part to help stop the spread of the virus by following the guidelines. He also asks that if you have recently recovered from COVID-19 that you donate plasma.
“Over a quarter-million courses of convalescent plasma have been used on your fellow Americans to help prevent severe consequences from COVID-19,” he said in a White House briefing Tuesday.
Plasma from COVID-19 patients is used in an antibody treatment developed by the company Azar used to work for, Eli Lilly. The federal government has spent an additional $812 million on an additional 650,000 doses of Lilly’s antibody treatment.