Gov. Gavin Newsom said 327,000 doses of the new Pfizer coronavirus vaccine are headed to California in mid-December.
Newsom announced the expected delivery of the vaccines on Twitter Monday. He said transparency, equity and safety will continue to be the state’s top priorities as officials begin phase one of the distribution process.
Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to allow emergency use of their vaccine earlier this month after the companies found it to be 95% effective at preventing mild to severe COVID-19 disease in a large, ongoing study.
FDA’s scientific advisers are holding a public meeting Dec. 10 to review Pfizer’s request and send a recommendation to the FDA.
Newsom warned Monday that without more restrictions or changes in behavior, the number of coronavirus patients could double or triple in a month.
Right now nearly 7,800 patients are hospitalized. But the biggest concern is intensive care cases, which increased 67% in the past two weeks. If that continues, it would push ICU beds to 112% of capacity by mid-December. The state’s top health official says ICU capacity will be the primary trigger as state officials consider more restrictions.
Newsom said a more sweeping stay-at-home order could soon be imposed in the vast majority of California in hopes of preventing the health care system from being overrun.
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