Gov. John Bel Edwards held a news conference Thursday, Dec. 10 on the state’s response to rising COVID-19 cases and its plan to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Pfizer, which a U.S. government advisory panel endorsed less than an hour after the governor’s address.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to follow the recommendation issued Thursday by its expert advisers. Gov. Edwards, who called the vaccine “one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time,” expects the state to receive the vaccine within 48 hours of it being approved by the FDA.
Once the vaccine is approved by the FDA, Louisiana will not receive it until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authorizes the use of it.
He said 39,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine could be administered to hospital personnel across Louisiana as soon as Saturday, Dec. 12 or Sunday, Dec. 13. The next week the state will receive another shipment of about 40,000 doses, he said.
Between 125,000 and 135,000 frontline healthcare personnel will be the first people in the state to receive the vaccine, according to the governor. Doctors, nurses, as well as hospital food service workers and custodial staff, will be included in that group.
Gov. Edwards says he expects the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna to be approved around Dec. 17. The Moderna vaccine will be distributed to nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Louisiana.
The governor referred to the vaccine as a “light and the end of the tunnel” but warned that it would be months before the vaccine would be widely available to the general public. Gov. Edwards also said the state is experiencing a “tremendous surge” in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, ventilator usage, and deaths.
The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) reported 1,529 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 Thursday. Gov. Edwards said a “significant increase” in hospitalizations would be reported Friday, Dec. 11. He also said the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations is currently on a trajectory that is not sustainable for the state’s healthcare system.
If Louisiana’s healthcare system is overwhelmed, it will hinder its capabilities to provide care to non-COVID-related patients, he said.
Gov. Edwards said the state has not yet seen the full effects of the virus’ spread over the Thanksgiving holiday and encouraged residents to consider safer alternatives for Christmas and New Years’.
Louisiana moved to a more restrictive “modified” Phase 2 of the White House’s Opening Up America Again guidelines Nov. 24, just before Thanksgiving. The order will expire on Dec. 23, however, the restrictions could be extended, the governor said.
Thursday’s news conference came one day after the state reported 4,339 new cases, the highest number of new cases without a backlog since the pandemic started. Wednesday, Dec. 9 also marked nine months since the first case of COVID-19 was identified in Louisiana.
Thursday also marked the first time the governor spoke publiclly since visiting the White House to discuss the state’s COVID-19 distribution plan on Tuesday, Dec. 8. Gov. Edwards said he was invited to nation’s capital to meet with the White House’s Coroanvirus Task Force Tuesday because of the “strength of Louisiana’s COVID-19 vaccine plan.”
https://www.wafb.com/2020/12/09/gov-edwards-hold-news-conference-states-response-rising-covid-cases/