S.A. hospital is among 4 Texas facilities expecting Monday delivery of COVID vaccine doses.
It’s one of just four facilities in Texas receiving first batch
Months of waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Texas are almost — but not quite — over, as hospital leaders prepare for the first doses to move from sealed subzero shipments to syringes and into the arms of thousands of residents.
About 19,500 doses of Pfizer's vaccine, the first to ship in the U.S., will arrive today at four medical centers in Texas: Wellness 360 at UT Health San Antonio, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Methodist Dallas Medical Center and UT Health Austin's Dell Medical School, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which is overseeing deliveries.
Another 75,075 doses will arrive at 19 additional sites Tuesday. Arrival days were determined by federal officials and Pfizer, DSHS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said.
Trucks carrying Pfizer's vaccine began rolling Sunday, some to airports and others headed for long drives around nation, ending a long wait for significant good news related to the virus and a historic effort in American medical history.
“Our staff are very excited — they're rolling up their sleeves, and they're ready to come,” said Dr. Robert Leverence, the chief medical officer for UT Health San Antonio, the city's largest medical school. “This is history in the making.”
“The big picture is we have a vaccine available now and that is great,” said Dr. Paul Klotman, president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “But the No. 1 message for Texans is it ain't over: Wear your mask, practice social distancing and don't have multi family gatherings.”
COVID has killed nearly 300,000 Americans, including 24,000 Texans.
The vaccine will arrive Monday morning at 145 hospitals around the country, Army Gen. Gustave Perna, leader of Operation Warp Speed, said at a news conference Saturday.
Another 491 hospitals will have their allotments either Tuesday or Wednesday.
San Antonio's doses will be divided among 10 hospitals and Wellness 360, the organization that provides health care to UT Health students, employees and their families.
Immunization could start the day after shipments arrive.
Under a tiered plan developed by public health leaders, the first vaccine doses will be given to front-line hospital workers.
Later shipments, likely in January, will be administered to patients at high risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing serious complications.
The super-cold shipments of vaccine, divided into vials each containing five doses, will arrive via national cargo carriers FedEx and UPS.
Depending on the allotment, thousands of doses could be a container roughly the size of the container pizza delivery drivers use to keep pies warm, said Dr. Marc Boom, president of Houston Methodist.
The containers include dry ice to maintain a temperature of 94 below zero.
Doses will be logged and stored in freezers common at hospitals.
“Once it's at room temperature, you've got a six-hour window” to administer the shot, said Elliot Mandell, the senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer of University Health. “We don't want to waste any product, and each vial of the vaccine contains five doses, so we have to ensure that our schedule is in multiples of five.”
UT Health plans to administer about 1,000 doses daily, but only will inoculate up to 20 percent of a medical unit each day to maintain staffing levels if employees need to stay home for a day or two, Leverence said.
Every dose is accounted for, Boom said, under federal and Pfizer procedures. Vaccinations will be tracked in a state database, Immtrac.
“The only vaccines that work are the ones that get into people,” Boom said.
Pfizer's vaccine, which is expected to be followed quickly by at least two more approved vaccines, is intended as a two-step process, meaning the first shot is followed by another about 21 days later.
Federal officials have assured hospitals the first wave of doses will be followed by sufficient supplies for the second shot.
While a major development, the arrival of the first vaccine doses doesn't scratch the surface of the total need when it comes to the general population, Klotman said.
More than 100,000 health workers statewide are on pace to be protected by the end of the week, but there are 29 million Texans.
Health officials are looking beyond prioritizing those early doses for health workers, emergency first responders and associated occupations.
From there distribution enters a new and massive level, potentially taking half 2021 as the general population arrives to get their vaccinations.
Tracking them and making sure they know to get the second dose will be paramount to providing enough reduction in virus risk to call the all-clear on COVID-19.
That could require in some places community outreach and urging skeptics to trust the science.
Right now, however, officials are taking it step by step.
“You don't need to spend a lot time convincing the people who don't want it,” Klotman said of the next few weeks. “You vaccinate the highest risk people who want it.”