CDC to States: Offer COVID Vaccine By Nov. 1; CDC Contracts with McKesson Co. in Huge Effort

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told all U.S.

 governors last week to prepare for the "large-scale" distribution of a coronavirus vaccine by November 1, 2020, the NBC News website reports today (September 2, 2020).

In the August 27 letter, Dr. Robert Redfield said the agency had contracted a pharmaceutical company, McKesson, to potentially distribute hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to local health departments and medical facilities across the country in the fall.

Redfield called the effort "massive" and asked governors for their help expediting applications for distribution facilities that will be set up and operated by McKesson.

Redfield added, "If necessary. the agency asks you to consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities from being fully operational by November 1, 2020."