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Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is all but assured to become the first in the U.S. to win an emergency use authorization after an FDA panel voted to recommend the vaccine for widespread use. The company’s vaccine needs to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, which will require special freezers and shipping methods in order to ensure the vaccine remains potent.

More than 68 million infected with the novel coronavirus and more than 1.5 million dead. 2020 has been a year defined by global sickness and loss. In the face of this extraordinary threat, it’s easy to forget how much we have accomplished. Doctors, nurses and staff in hospitals around the world have learned how to better care for those sick with COVID-19. Researchers have uncovered secrets of a virus that, not so long ago, was wholly unknown.

The Pentagon expects to distribute 44,000 doses of covid-19 vaccine among military personnel and retirees against COVID as early as next week at 16 sites in what officials called a “controlled pilot.” Initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine will go to what officials described as a “limited, limited'' number of senior military officials and officers, including the Defense Secretary and Deputy Defense Secretary, the Chairmen and Vice Chairman of the Joints Chief and some others. But the bulk of the initial doses will go to the military healthcare workforce. 

COVID-19 has transformed the landscape in which organizations and individuals operate. Within days of the first outbreak, almost every aspect of our lives changed, including how we work, attend school, shop, access healthcare, and socialize. Fortunately, digital versions of all these activities existed before the pandemic, resulting in quick adoption, and are likely to persist long after the pandemic is over.

DocWire News recently sat down with Dr. Julie Swann, the department head and A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor of the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at NC State University. She was also a science advisor for the H1N1` pandemic in 2009. Dr. Swann discussed the overall logistics of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided her thoughts on a national lockdown, as well as the impending coronavirus vaccines.