Blocked Biden advisers to meet vaccine makers

Scientists on Democrat Joe Biden's transition team plan to meet with vaccine makers in the coming days to get around US President Donald Trump's blocking the team from distribution plans for the biggest vaccination effort in US history.

"We're going to start those consultations this week," Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, said on Sunday, citing Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies.

He said Biden's scientific advisers need a detailed understanding of distribution plans being put together by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon. In some ways, that's the more critical issue, he said.

"It's great to have a vaccine. But vaccines don't save lives, vaccinations save lives. And that means you've got to get that vaccine into people's arms all over this country. It's a giant logistical project," Klain said.

Trump's refusal to concede the election has prevented the transition process from formally beginning.

The General Services Administration, or GSA, has yet to "ascertain "the winner. This leaves Biden and his advisers without intelligence briefings and the usual resources given to a president-elect for a smooth transition. It means those working to develop the vaccine-distribution plan can't share it with those who will take over in January.

"What we really want to see this week is the GSA issue that ascertainment," Klain said, which would enable Biden's team to meet with public health officials and receive intelligence briefings.

Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said on Sunday on CNN about working with Biden's transition team: "Of course, it would be better if we could start working with them."

"I have been through multiple transitions now, having served six presidents for 36 years," he said. "And it's very clear that the transition process that we go through, that time period measured in several weeks to months, is really important in a smooth handing over of the information."

'Passing a baton'

"It's almost like passing a baton in a race－you don't want to stop and then give it to somebody," Fauci said of the transition. "You want to just essentially keep going."

Admiral Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said on Sunday on ABC's This Week that he wants to share information about the pandemic and that it shouldn't be a political process.

Biden's outreach to vaccine manufacturers comes as the pandemic in the US has entered perhaps its most dangerous phase. The seven-day rolling average for new daily cases stood at 145,400 on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That means the country is adding about 1 million new cases a week, and deaths averaged 820 a day as of Saturday, a 33 percent increase in just two weeks.

Pfizer announced on Nov 9 that its vaccine demonstrated more than 90 percent effectiveness and no serious adverse reactions in early results of a phase 3 trial.

The company plans to ask the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization this month once it collects more safety data for another week or two. It will manufacture enough doses for 15 million to 20 million people.

On Monday, Moderna said its experimental vaccine was 94.5 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial.