The U.S. Approves a Vaccine

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 14 December 2020

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday, clearing the way for millions of highly vulnerable people to begin receiving the vaccine within days. The authorization is a historic turning point in a pandemic that has taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States. With the decision, the United States becomes the sixth country — in addition to Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Today, we ask the science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. what might happen next. Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here. Background reading: Pfizer has a deal with the U.S. government to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine by next March. Under that agreement, the shots will be free to the public.The vaccines are on their way, but experts still say a difficult winter of coronavirus infection and death lies ahead. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Transcript

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0:26.0	From New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro.
0:33.0	This is Daily.
0:40.0	Today, the United States has granted emergency authorization to Pfizer's vaccine for the
0:47.1	coronavirus, a turning point in the pandemic.
0:51.5	I spoke to my colleague, Science reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. on what happens next.
1:00.2	It's Monday, December 14th.
1:05.5	Donald, I just want to start by getting your reaction to this news, the fact that we
1:12.2	now have an approved vaccine for the coronavirus in the United States.
1:20.1	I think it's great.
1:22.0	This is what we've been waiting for.
1:23.8	This is the way out.
1:26.7	We're not getting out through masks and social distancing and all the other steps that
1:31.4	countries like China took.
1:32.6	We're going to have to get out through pharmaceutical means.
1:36.4	Fortunately, this is step one.
	...

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