As shots ship out, states prepare to receive COVID-19 vaccines this week

All 636 distribution sites to receive shipments by Wednesday, official says

Hospitals that have spent months preparing to administer a vaccine against a virus that has killed more than 295,000 people in the United States will begin receiving shipments of the shots Monday, U.S. officials said Saturday morning, comparing the start of distribution to the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

“You have heard me refer to today as D-Day,” said Gen. Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, the public-private partnership speeding the development of vaccines and therapeutics. “Some people assumed that I meant the day of distribution. In fact, D-Day, in military, designates the day the mission begins. D-Day was a pivotal turning point in World War II. It was the beginning of the end. D-Day was the beginning of the end, and that’s where we are today.”

The initial distribution to hospitals, which are battling climbing case counts and mounting deaths, marks the beginning of one of the most complicated logistical missions in U.S. history. Nearly 3 million doses of the vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech, are being sent by plane and guarded truck. The shots must be stored at ultracold temperatures.

Perna said boxes were being loaded with vaccines following Friday’s green light from the Food and Drug Administration, and would begin moving Sunday from Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Mich., to shipping hubs nationwide.

The vaccine, he predicted, would arrive at 145 sites, mostly large hospital systems, Monday, with another 425 sites receiving supply Tuesday. The final 66 of the 636 locations poised to receive doses in the first round of Pfizer shipments would receive their supply on Wednesday, Perna said.

The general made clear that earlier-than-anticipated clearance from federal regulators, which took place late Friday instead of Saturday after pressure from the White House, did not alter the timetable for the distribution or administration of the shots.

The initial shipments include 2.9 million doses, with an equivalent amount set to be shipped 21 days later for a booster shot.

PARKER MICHELS-BOYCE/WASHINGTON POST Pharmacy Director Ahmed El Kority opens a new ultra freezer that will be used to store COVID-19 vaccines at the Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Onancock, Va.