Nearly 3 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine are rolling out in the United States in the initial vaccination push, and government officials hope to have 100 million people vaccinated against the potentially deadly virus by the end of March, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday.
"We are sending out 2.9 million doses of vaccine [and] we hope we'll see as much of that used as humanly possible this week," Azar told NBC "Today" anchor Savannah Guthrie. "We know we have the vaccine available to get to 20 million people by the end of December and then a total of 50 million by the end of January and 100 million people by the end of March."
He also predicted that by the end of February and into March, "I think you will start seeing much more like a flu vaccination program to the general public," with "people going into their Kroger, their CVS, their Walgreens, Walmart" to get their shots. He further pointed out that by that point, there will be other companies with vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.
Azar warned that all precautions against COVID-19 must continue but also sought to assure skeptics of the safety of the vaccine.
"This is a 94% effective vaccine," he said. "It's gone through every aspect of the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] process with integrity and transparent data ... if you are recommended to get it and it is available for you, please do get it. Protect yourself and those around you."
He also responded to President Donald Trump's demand last Friday that FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn and his agency get the vaccines out, insisting that the approval of the drug has happened according to the agency's protocol.
"The FDA at 7 a.m. that day announced they had already communicated to Pfizer they would be approving the vaccine, and I made the announcement we would be doing that," said Azar. "Everything has gone according to the normal FDA processes here. Career FDA scientists made the call, as they will on any vaccine or therapeutic ... these vaccines, these therapeutics are safe and effective through a regular, standard, transparent process that we use."