First batches of virus vaccine on the way
And they’re off!
The first batches of the coronavirus vaccine shipped out of Kalamazoo, Mich., early Sunday, the start of a historic effort to protect the nation from the deadly virus.
Trucks containing 189 boxes of the vaccine each rolled out of a Pfizer plant and headed for FedEx and UPS distribution centers throughout the country.
The precious cargo was expected to reach all 50 states by Monday.
It will arrive at 145 distribution centers, with 425 extra sites getting batches on Tuesday and 66 locations on Wednesday, according to the feds.
The rollout came as the nation was reeling from a renewed surge in cases of the virus, which has killed nearly 300,000 Americans and another 1.3 million worldwide as of Sunday morning.
With President Trump largely silent about the outbreak as he continues to obsess over his failed effort to overturn the November election, it was left to local leaders to celebrate what appeared to be a turning point in the pandemic.
“Literally any day now, the vaccine will arrive in New York City, and that’s good news for all of us,” Mayor de Blasio said Sunday morning at St. Martin of Tours Church in Brooklyn.
“As each and every New Yorker is vaccinated, it is one step closer to ending the coronavirus era,” he added.
Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he gave the final signoff for injections for people age 16 and older over the weekend.
The vaccine, developed by Pfizer in partnership with German firm BioNTech, will be distributed based on each state’s adult population.
The Empire State was expecting up to 170,000 doses, with 72,000 of them reserved for the Big Apple, according to Gov. Cuomo.
Vaccine storage requires extra care.
Doses shipped from Kalamazoo were packed in dry ice and equipped with GPS sensors. The city has been training hospital staff on handling the packages, which must be stored about 94 degrees below zero.
Health care workers and nursing home residents and staff will be first to get the vaccine, which comes in two doses.
A de Blasio spokesman did not immediately answer an inquiry asking when the first vaccination will occur in New York City.
In New Jersey, vaccinations will begin Tuesday at University Hospital, the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, said Sunday.
The Garden State is getting 76,000 doses to start.
Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, voiced optimism about the distribution process.
“We’ve seen the vaccines go out, we’ve seen the press reports of hospitals waiting to vaccinate health care workers and those most vulnerable,” he told CNN on Sunday. “So, it would be my greatest hope and desire that [vaccinations] occur tomorrow.”
Last week, a woman in the U.K. was the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer vaccine.