₦airaland Forum

MILWAUKEE — A state board on Wednesday suspended the license of a Wisconsin pharmacist accused of ruining more than 500 doses of Covid-19 vaccine because he thought it was unsafe.
Steven Brandenburg was working at Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, when he was arrested last month following an investigation into the 57 spoiled vials of the Moderna vaccine. He has not been criminally charged. A status conference in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.
The Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board said in its order that Brandenburg cannot practice pharmacy while the suspension is in place. It said Brandenburg agreed to the action “in order to focus” on possible charges against him.
Brandenburg’s attorney, Jason Baltz, did not immediately respond to a phone message left Wednesday evening by The Associated Press.
Advocate Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Group Officer Jeff Bahr has said Brandenburg admitted that he deliberately removed the vials from refrigeration at the Grafton medical center.
A detective wrote in a probable cause statement that Brandenburg, 46, is an admitted conspiracy theorist and that he told investigators he intentionally tried to ruin the vaccine because he believed it could hurt people by changing their DNA.
Misinformation around the Covid-19 vaccines has surged online with false claims circulating on the vaccines’ ingredients and possible side effects.
One of the earliest false claims suggested that the vaccines could alter DNA. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine as well as the Moderna vaccine rely on messenger RNA or mRNA, which is a fairly new technology used in vaccines that experts have been working on for years.
MRNA vaccines help train the immune system to identify the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus and create an immune response. Experts have said there is no truth to the claims that the vaccines can genetically modify humans.

Twenty-seven players in the National Hockey League have tested positive for Covid-19, the league said Tuesday — with 17 of those on the Dallas Stars.
The NHL said in a statement that most of the Stars players are asymptomatic and "are currently recovering without complication." The 27 players who are positive for the illness are across nine teams.
The NHL season starts Wednesday, but it will be a condensed 56-game regular season that ends May 8. Normally, there are 82 regular-season games.
The Stars had been set to open their season Thursday in Florida against the Panthers, but the first three games have been postponed and the next one on their schedule is Jan. 19. The NHL made the announcement Jan. 8 after six Stars players and two staff members had tested positive.
Rick Bowness, the Stars head coach, told reporters Tuesday that they knew with Covid-19 there could be some uncertainty with the roster. "We work with the players that we have," he said, adding that decisions would be made as players return.

Rep. Tim Ryan: 2 officers suspended in Capitol riots
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, said Monday two police officers were suspended related to the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
When asked if he’s heard evidence there was an “inside job” on Jan. 6, Ryan said, “I don’t have any direct evidence, as yet, of any kind of inside job,” but said two members of the Capitol Police were suspended.
“I know that there were two people suspended, one was the selfie officer, and another was an officer who put a MAGA hat on and started directing people around,” Ryan said.
“The interim chief determind that to be qualifying for immediate suspension,” he said.
Capitol Police did not immediately return a request for comment. USCP union chief Gus Papathanasiou said Monday that he had not been briefed on the matter.
Acting Homeland Security chief Wolf resigns
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is stepping down from his post, days after criticizing President Donald Trump over the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Wolf said in a message to staff that he would step down at 11:59 p.m. Monday, even though he had earlier said he planned to remain in his job. He said Pete Gaynor, who runs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, would become the acting homeland security secretary.
The resignation comes a day before Trump is set to visit the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Last week, Wolf asked Trump and all elected officials to “strongly condemn the violence” that took place at the Capitol. Five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
Wolf said he has condemned violence on both sides of the political aisle, specifically directed at law enforcement. He tweeted “we now see some supporters of the President using violence as a means to achieve political ends” and called that unacceptable.

The U.S. has for the first time recorded more than 4,000 deaths in one day from complications of COVID-19.
Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center reported 4,085 coronavirus-related deaths on Jan. 7, bringing the total U.S. death toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 365,882. Both figures continue to far outpace the virus' toll in other nations.
The number of confirmed infections in the U.S. stands at more than 21.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins, more than the next highest country, India. The figure represents about 6.5% of the U.S. population.
The spike in deaths comes after a busy holiday travel period, which delays reporting. So it's too early to determine how much of that surge was due to the holidays or a backup in reporting, though epidemiologists have predicted the holidays could be significant.
The seven-day rolling average has hovered between 2,300 and 2,800 deaths in the past week, according to Johns Hopkins.
In an interview Thursday with NPR's Morning Edition, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is slated to be President-elect Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, said he expects January figures to grow worse.
"As we get into the next couple of weeks in January, that likely will be a reflection of the holiday season travel and the congregate settings that usually take place socially during that period of time," Fauci said.

Di number of Covid -19 cases for Nigeria don continue to dey rise since ending of 2020, enta di new year 2021.
Di highest number wey NCDC don record so far for di kontri, na 4th of January with 1,204 cases.
For 1st of January 2021, di kontri record 1,074 cases, di following day, 576 cases and on di 3rd of January 917 cases.
Now di total number of confirmed cases for Nigeria don climb go 91,351 while di total death na 1,318.
Di Presidential Taskforce on Covid -19 don begin para on top di rising cases of Covid -19 for di kontri and blame am on top di fact say Nigerians no dey gree follow di guidelines wey goment give.
Di PTF for dia daily briefing don tell Nigerians say di kontri don enta second wave and pipo gatz follow goment measure to check di spread of di disease.
Dat na di big question for pipo mouth as di cases dey rise but dis question never get clear ansa yet.
Nigeria bin lockdown for March 30, 2020 wen di president order total lockdown for Lagos, Ogun and Abuja, as airports and land borders dey closed too.
On Monday 13 April, 2020, Buhari again bin extend di first two week lockdown im declare for Lagos - di kontri bizness capital, neighbouring Ogun and Abuja- di kontri political capital by anoda two weeks.
Dat na wen di kontri case count dey around 1,000 figure, as at 4, January, 2021, e don pass 90,000.
But even with dis figure, e no clear if di kontri ready to risk anoda lockdown sake of di economy wey dem don bin tok say no go fit bear am.
But di presidential taskforce na dem get di power wit consultation wit di president to announce any lockdown.
From wetin we know, di PTF go hold dia usual weekly briefing today for di office of di Secretary to di Government of di Federation.
Signs dey say even if di taskforce no pronounce total lockdown sake of di kontri economy, dem fit issue various restriction sake of how di number of covid-19 dey increase for di kontri.
Di National Coordinator for PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu bin don tok say di only to prevent re-introduction of a lockdown na for kontri pipo to follow all di covid-19 protocol and do as goment advise dem by wearing facemasks, wash dia hands, follow social distancing and make sure say dem avoid mass gathering.
Di PTF say many Nigerians kontinu to shun wetin dem dey tell dem and dat if di number kontinu to rise, den dem gatz take serious action to stop di virus.

Although the lockdown is something no one wants, it is also the most effective way to control the continued increase in the number of Covid -19 cases. I hope everyone can look at this rationally and maintain social distance.

The year was unthinkable. There was a pandemic that stung the global economy and, for several months, refused to let go.
After the mid-year, there was a momentary relief when it appeared that the curves were, indeed, flattening. But the economy could get a brief lift when the second wave, and all the unpleasant news about resurgent impacts on the economy, struck once more.
The challenging 2020 closed with so much worry about the second wave (perhaps, this is a generic name for a returning COVID-19 as the globe has experienced a second wave more than twice). There were also breakthroughs in vaccinations.
Sadly, a few countries have also reported new strains of the virus just as infectious disease experts believe there is yet an end to its mutation. These have raised fresh concerns about the medical challenge that has dealt a deadly blow to the economy.
But it is not much about COVID-19 in the case of Nigeria. The outbreak has only exposed the underbelly of a weak economy as experts believe that Nigeria had been battling with self-inflicted systemic challenges.
For instance, Head of Macroeconomic Research, EFG Hermes, Mohamed Abu Basha, says “the economy has yet to adjust to this drop in oil prices” that triggered the 2016 recession, which lasted for five quarters.
The economy has, in the past decades, spiraled downwards over sore points ranging from fiscal indiscipline, executive recklessness, official graft, policy summersault, currency crisis, unemployment, reliance on importation, narrow economic base, poor capacity utilisation to inadequate infrastructure. The government, according to Bala Zakka, a financial analyst, has only paid lip service to “fixing these systemic challenges”.
From the days of military dictatorship and even after 1999, when the current democratic experience birthed, it has been a boom-and-bust cycle. When oil prices rally, as they do occasionally, the economy gets a relief, albeit temporary. During the oil crisis, it drifts, gets battered, and bleeds. The cycle has continued and has become the economic norm.
Efforts at addressing the unfortunate challenges by successive administrations have, at best, been knee-jerk, which Dr. Chiwuike Uba, a development economist, and consultant to the World Bank, says is incapable of addressing deep-seated “systemic economic challenges”.

A medical expert has lamented the care-free attitude of Nigerians to the COVID-19 pandemic, which she has described as a Tsunami.
The Founder and Chief Executive of Paelon Memorial Hospital, Ngozi Onyia, has lamented over Nigerians’ care-free attitude to the COVID-19 pandemic, which she described as Tsunami.
To the Medical Practitioner, the virus has grown beyond a second wave stage to a Tsunami.
Onyia, who disclosed this on her LinkedIn page, explained that as far as Paelon Memorial Hospital is concerned, the development is no longer a second wave but a Tsunami.
She said,“My phone ringing of the hook, patients crowding in and around the tent, making tough calls, who to take in our treatment centre, who to put in one of our four vents. I have to take ethical decisions that i have not taken in over 38 years of practice. It is therefore simply infuriating to see people wearing masks on their chins, crowding together with no respect for social distancing, and carrying on, business as usual.”

A condemned Ohio inmate, who survived an executioner's needle more than a decade ago, has died — probably from complications of Covid-19, officials said Wednesday. Romell Broom, a 64-year-old convicted murderer, passed away on Monday at Franklin Medical Center, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman Sara French.
The state of Ohio says at least 124 inmates have died from confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus, as it continues to ravage the nation.
"As of today, his death is considered a probable Covid-19 related death, pending his death certificate," French said in a statement.
Back in Sept. 15, 2009, Broom, then 53, was set to be put to death, but executioners couldn't find a suitable vein that could be used for his lethal injection.
The execution was finally put off after Broom was stuck by needles 18 times over two hours.
He was set again for execution on March 16, 2022.
"We are sorry that he is gone and sorry that he lived his last days on death row," Broom's lawyer Adele Shank said in a statement on behalf of her and the inmate's other attorney, Tim Sweeney.
"Due to a painful and traumatic botched execution procedure, Broom survived that day only to live with the ever-increasing fear and distress that the same process would be used on him at his next execution date."
They added: "Let his passing in this way, and not in the execution chamber, be the final word on whether a second attempt should ever have been considered."
Broom was convicted for the 1984 murder and rape of Tryna Middleton, 14, who was kidnapped as she walked home from a football game with two friends.
Ohio is currently working under a de facto moratorium against capital punishment as the state is unable to obtain the drugs needed for lethal injection. Gov. Mike DeWine has said lawmakers must find a new execution method.
A handful of prisoners have survived executions.
Willie Francis, 17, was supposed to be put to death in Louisiana on May 3, 1946 but the electric chair was improperly set up, sending painful — but not fatal — currents through this body. Executors tried again on May 9, 1947, and the 18-year-old was killed.
Ohio executioners failed to kill Alva Campbell on Nov. 15, 2017 when they couldn't find a suitable vein. The 69-year-old, who had smoked for decades and suffered from a host of health issues, died in custody less than four months later.
Doyle Lee Hamm had more than a dozen puncture marks jabbed into his legs and groin during a failed execution on Feb. 22, 2018. He remains in custody at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Alabama.

Amid raging COVID-19 cases in Nigeria, the Lagos State Government has raised its concern regarding the sale of fake COVID-19 certificates in the state on Monday, according to a report by PM News.
Reportedly disclosing the concern in a press conference, Akin Abayomi, the Health Commissioner said while updating the second COVID-19 wave in Lagos.
As per Abayomi, the concern has been brought to the authorities' attention that some who entered the country were patronizing those individuals who deal with fake certificates of COVID-19 result.
He said that the government was at present setting machinery in place to arrest those who are indulged in such businesses.
He also mentioned that the authorities have noticed increasing positive cases from inbound travelers, rising to 8 percent earlier this week.
"Positivity for inbound travellers is on the rise (8% this week, 4% cumulative) as Nigerians in Diaspora return to spend Christmas in Lagos. It has come to our attention that a number of people are patronizing individuals that sell fake COVID-19 results. We are currently putting in processes to identify both buyers and sellers and we will not hesitate to prosecute either to the full extent of the law", he added.
He also mentioned that the opening of schools, False Sense of Security, General Laxity, Non-adherence to guidelines, large religious congregation, and social and entertainment gatherings has added to the second wave.

The Senate acted swiftly Monday night, in a 92-6 vote, to approve more than $900 billion for coronavirus assistance, shortly after the House of Representatives passed the package. The aid comes after months of partisan sniping over what elements should be in a relief measure that virtually all lawmakers on Capitol Hill argued was long overdue.
The measure now heads to President Trump's desk. In order to avoid a shutdown, since federal agencies would have run out of money at midnight Monday, a seven-day stop-gap spending bill was also approved to allow time to process the combined relief and annual funding bills.
The 5,593-page legislation extends economic assistance as millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet as cases of COVID-19 surge across the country. It includes another round of direct stimulus checks — this time $600 per adult who are in certain income thresholds and the same amount for children. It provides an extension of enhanced unemployment insurance benefits for up to $300 per week and lengthens the maximum number of weeks. The package includes $25 billion in rental assistance and extends a ban on evictions that was scheduled to expire at the end of December. To address the increasing number of those with food insecurity, $13 billion was added to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
To help small businesses worried about closing their doors, the legislation has another roughly $300 billion for the popular Paycheck Protection Program and expands the kinds of businesses that can qualify for forgivable loans and grants. Live venues that have been shuttered during the pandemic were eligible for $15 billion in grants.

The Trump administration on Friday made public a trove of federal data on the pandemic that reveals a country awash in red alerts.
The data contain a wealth of previously undisclosed information, including counties the federal government considers "hotspots," forecasts for whether virus cases are likely to increase at a local level, and information on cases, deaths and tests by metro area.
"This will give the American people the same community level information that is available to federal personnel," wrote federal officials who are responsible for the release of the data and who belong to an interagency group working for the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
In a statement posted on the website healthdata.gov, they promised daily updates. "We hope the publication of this data will help Americans make personal choices to slow the spread."
The newly disclosed data reveal that nearly 900 out of 938 metropolitan areas and more than 2,000 out of 3,270 counties qualify as "sustained hotspots," meaning they have "potentially higher risk for experiencing healthcare resource limitations." It also showed that more than a dozen metro areas and nearly 50 counties saw a 500% or greater increase in deaths from the previous week.
Some of the information is similar to metrics the task force previously sent to governors in weekly reports. The documents, which the White House never made public, are now only available if states request them. The Center for Public Integrity has been collecting and publishing them.

Given the devastation and serious economic toll precipitated by the COVID-19, it is apt that the theme of Thursday’s 2020 International Human Rights Day found inspiration in the urgent need for a pandemic recovery process, which gives utmost importance to fundamental human rights.
With the most resilient global economies struggling to mount an effective fightback against the virus, the 2020 theme, ‘Recover Better-Stand Up for Human Rights’, is a timely call to governments around the world, especially in the Global South, to anchor the fight against COVID-19 and its economic effects on the core principles of protection and promotion of human rights. 
In his message to mark the day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres provided a number of points to ponder on. The first is that human rights violations harm us all. The second important point was around the universality of human rights and their inherent value in protecting everyone. Finally, he remarked how “divisive approaches, authoritarianism, and nationalism make no sense against a global threat”. The clarion call for the protection of the civil, political, cultural, and economic rights of citizens is particularly relevant in Nigeria where, in recent months, state actors have tended to give the impression that repressing citizens’ rights is the best way to project and exercise state power. 
Citizens, already blighted by extreme poverty, and bad governance, were further squeezed by the economic effects of COVID-19. But the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Nigerian context, are not just economic. The pandemic has worsened an already dire human rights situation. The combination of anger against bad governance, human rights abuses, and the lack of a mechanism to seek redress, combined to trigger recent street protests, which have become collectively known as the #EndSARS protests.
Even before the onset of the pandemic, the Nigerian authorities were struggling to convince the international community of its readiness to adhere to globally accepted norms, which guarantee, promote, and protect the basic rights of citizens. In recent months they have come under intense scrutiny for their failure to ensure a safe space for voices of dissent demanding accountability and transparency in governance. This hostile environment has constrained civil liberties and fundamental freedoms are apparent in attacks on press freedom, the use of the legislative process to limit the work of civil society organisations, and the criminalisation of protests by the state. Although the government has continued to copy from its familiar playbook of repressing and clamping down on protests, the theme, and the clarion call of the 2020 International Human Rights Day is a reminder of a better road to travel.  
Irrespective of what those who control the levers of power choose to do, Nigerians should be able to expect their government to protect and promote human rights. Nigerians also need a government, which will serve them with integrity, especially as the people clamour for measures to recover from the devastating effects of the pandemic. If Nigerian authorities can answer the clarion calls encapsulated in the interconnected themes of Human Rights and the Anti-Corruption Day they can make progress in this regard.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court continued its solicitude toward religious freedom in the face of a pandemic Tuesday by giving religious leaders in New Jersey and Colorado another chance to block strict limits on houses of worship.
The action followed similar ones affecting religious institutions in New York and California. In all four cases, the high court indicated that states may not impose stricter standards on churches, synagogues and mosques than they do on most commercial establishments.
New Jersey limits houses of worship to the lesser of 25% capacity or 150 people. The policy was challenged by a priest and a rabbi who argued their small congregations are penalized more than necessary.
"Religious gatherings ... are still being treated unequally relative to numerous comparable secular activities, including attending school, working at a meatpacking plant, getting a facial, shopping at Costco, playing contact sports, casino gambling, and mass celebrations after a presidential election," they said in court papers.
In response, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal wrote that the state was limiting the density of indoor services, rather than the number, and requiring that masks be worn.
"There is nothing discriminatory about that," Grewal said. "This rule applies to all venues where members of the public remain for extended periods, and the few activities subject to higher limits present substantially fewer health risks."
Colorado restrictions until recently varied depending on the level of COVID-19 risk. The church that challenged the state in court was limited to 25% capacity, not to exceed 50 people.
But Colorado lifted all limits on religious gatherings after the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the New York case. That led the court's three liberal associate justices to dissent from Tuesday's ruling.
The challengers' arguments in both states mirrored those made by Christian and Jewish congregations in New York and California. Last month, the justices ruled 5-4 against New York's limits of 10 to 25 worshipers in hardest-hit regions. This month, they sent California's restrictions back to a lower court with instructions to consider the New York precedent.
"Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten," the court's conservative majority opinion said in the New York case. "The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty."

PORTAGE, Michigan -- The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday, as the nation's pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000.
The rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ushers in the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history — one that health officials hope the American public will embrace, even as some have voiced initial skepticism or worry. Shots are expected to be given to health care workers and nursing home residents beginning Monday.
Quick transport is key for the vaccine, especially since this one must be stored at extremely low temperatures — about 94 degrees below zero. Early Sunday, workers at Pfizer — dressed in fluorescent yellow clothing, hard hats and gloves — wasted no time as they packed vials into boxes. They scanned the packages and then placed them into freezer cases with dry ice. The vaccines were then taken from Pfizer's Portage, Michigan, facility to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, where the first cargo plane took off amid what airport officials called a “jubilant” mood.
“This is a historic day,” said Richard W. Smith, who oversees operations in the Americas for FedEx Express, which is delivering 630-some packages of vaccine to distribution sites across the country. United Parcel Service also is transporting a share of the vaccine.
Helping with the transport of the vaccine has special meaning to Bruce Smith, a FedEx package handler at the Grand Rapids airport, whose older sister, Queen, died after she contracted the coronavirus in May. She was hospitalized in Georgia one day after he saw her on a video chat, and they never spoke again.
“I think she would be ecstatic to know that something that has ravaged our family — that a family member is going to be part of such a big project,” said Smith, 58, whose nephew, Queen's son, also got sick and is still undergoing therapy for stroke-like symptoms. “It is very, very important.”
Tracked with GPS-enabled sensors, the initial shipments were expected to contain about 3 million doses, with many more to come. Federal officials say the first shipments of Pfizer’s vaccine will be staggered, arriving in 145 distribution centers Monday, with another 425 sites getting shipments Tuesday, and the remaining 66 on Wednesday. Doses of the vaccine, co-developed by German partner BioNTech, are given out based on each state’s adult population. Then the states decide where they go first.
In California, where health care workers will be among the first to be vaccinated, state health officials are prioritizing hospitals that have adequate storage capacity, serve high-risk populations and have the ability to vaccinate people quickly.

The latest figures released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows that the country recorded 318 new Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, with no related fatalities in the last 24 hours.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Sunday.
The public health agency stated that 124 people were discharged after recovery from the disease from across the country during the period under review, saying “our discharges today include 60 community recoveries in Lagos State.”
It added that the new infections took the country’s tally of COVID-19 cases to 69,255, noting that about 803,621 tests were conducted since the first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced on Feb. 27.
The health agency stated that Lagos recorded the highest number of the new infections with 104, while Kaduna, FCT, Rivers and Ogun confirmed 59, 50, 17 and 16 new infections respectively.
Others were; Kano-14, Nasarawa-14, Akwa Ibom-10, Katsina-10, Edo-7, Oyo-5, Sokoto-5, Plateau-4 and Taraba-3.
The centre said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3 has continued to coordinate the national response activities.
The NCDC noted that till date, 69,255 cases have been confirmed, 64,774 patients discharged and 1,180 deaths recorded in 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Meanwhile, the agency advised Nigerians to continue to abide by the COVID-19 protocols by frequently washing their hands under running water, observing social distance and wearing of face mask.

COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death in the United States topping heart disease, according to The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.
IHME says COVID-19 was the cause of nearly 12,000 deaths last week, putting it ahead of ischemic heart disease and lung cancer.
As hospital beds fill up governors across the country are weighing new restrictions.
Health officials warn the pandemic will likely get worse. However, there is some hope on the horizon.
In northern California, people in five Bay Area counties are bracing for new COVID-19 stay at home orders taking effect Sunday night.
Health officials hope shutting down outdoor dining playgrounds and salons can quickly save lives.
“Until we get through this wave, you should not meet in person with anyone you do not live with, even in a small group, and even outdoors with precautions,” said Dr. Lisa Hernandez, Berkeley California public health officer.
But the restrictions have business owners losing hope.
“Christmas time they come to get the nail beautiful for the holiday and we shut down again. We don’t know what we’re going to do for our financial,” said nail salon owner, Linda Nguyen.
With intensive care unit bed capacity dwindling, the stay at home orders could spread to central and southern California soon as well.
Americans are dying from COVID at a rate of nearly two people per minute.
The Food and Drug Administration could vote Thursday for Emergency Use Authorization for the first COVID-19 vaccine in the US from drugmaker Pfizer.
“As early as Friday of next week we could see vaccinations happening across the country,” said Dr. James Hildreth of the FDA advisory committee.
But experts say even if vaccinations start this week, it will be some time before everyone in the US can get one, and before life truly returns to normal.
But health officials warn things are bad now, and will get much worse without stronger efforts to stop the virus.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The United Kingdom has become the first country to approve the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The first shots are expected to roll out next week.
“We are all seeing glimmers of sunshine when we talk about vaccines and first big ray of sunshine was the United Kingdom’s approval of the Pfizer messenger RNA vaccine,” said OhioHealth's Infectious Diseases doctor, Dr. Joseph Gastaldo.
Where does that leave the United States?
“It really sets the stage for where our country is going,” Dr. Gastaldo said.
He said, as of right now, we are in a waiting process.
“We know that Pfizer met not only their safety, but efficacy end points and they have requested that their vaccine be reviewed by an independent section by the FDA on Dec. 10. 2020,” Dr. Gastaldo said.
Which is right around the corner.
“We also know too that Moderna has also met their safety and efficacy end points and they have requested an independent group from the FDA to have their vaccine reviewed on the 17th,” Dr. Gastaldo said.
The doctor said the approval process doesn’t end there after those meetings.
“Once a vaccine is approved by the FDA, then it has to go to an independent group at the CDC called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices,” Dr. Gastaldo said.
That group will make the final decision.
As far as the news of a vaccine on the way, Dr. Gastaldo hopes people don’t use this as a false sense of security.
He said safety measures and precautions need to be taken just as seriously while we wait, during and after a vaccine has made its way here.