USA Today reports:
By the end of the year, the United States government hopes to have close to 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
It plans to distribute half of those in December and hold back the other half to give the same people their second dose of the two-shot regimen.
But Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, says that’s a bad idea. Instead, Gottlieb says he would give out 35 million doses now, and presume the second doses will be available when people need them.
That way, he says, a lot more people can be protected as the U.S. endures the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We should get as many shots in our arms as possible right away,” he told the USA TODAY Editorial Board on Monday. “The idea that we need to cut (the doses) in half and give half of it now and hold onto it, so we have supply in January to get the second dose … I just fundamentally disagree with that.”
The New York Times reports that Pfizer’s vaccine for the coronavirus provides strong protection after a first dose.