Moderna Rx gets rolling

The first shipments of Moderna’s COVID-19 shot began leaving warehouses on Sunday, widening the vaccination effort to defeat the coronavirus in the US.

McKesson Corp., which is distributing the vaccine, said at around 6 a.m. that it had kicked off the rollout of the shots and ancillary supply kits.

New York is set to get 346,000 initial doses of the Moderna immunization, Gov. Cuomo has said.

Shipments of the vaccine arrived at McKesson distribution centers — including this one in Olive Branch, Miss. — on Saturday to be packed and loaded on trucks a day after the Food and Drug Administration granted the drug emergency-use authorization.

The shot is expected to be distributed to more than 3,700 locations across the nation.

The US government has said it plans to distribute 5.9 million Moderna shots this week on top of 2 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the first approved in the US.

Distribution of the Pfizer vaccine began last week.

Army Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, said the first boxes from Moderna are expected to arrive at healthcare providers on Monday.

Some states have chosen to use Moderna’s vaccine in difficult-to-reach rural areas since doses can be stored for 30 days in standard-temperature refrigerators.

Pfizer’s shot, by contrast, must be shipped at minus-94 degrees and can be held for only five days in standard refrigerators.