Montco receives 2,000 doses of Moderna vaccine

Calling it “exceptionally good news” in the fight against the coronavirus, Montgomery County officials announced the county Office of Public Health took delivery of 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday.

“These first doses will be used early next week to vaccinate paramedics and EMTs, our public health nurses who will be administering vaccine and other critical frontline workforce,” county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Dr. Valerie Arkoosh said during a weekly news briefing as the county entered the 42nd week of the pandemic.

“We believe that this is the first of a regular weekly shipment of vaccine but we do not yet have confirmation on the frequency or on the number of doses of vaccine that we will receive,” Arkoosh added.

Last week, county hospitals began receiving vaccine manufactured by Pfizer.

According to Pennsylvania Department of Health data, a total of 7,800 doses of vaccine were distributed directly to the county’s nine hospitals through Tuesday to vaccinate frontline doctors and nurses.

“We will take whatever we can get. We are prepared to receive both (Pfizer and Moderna) vaccines and we will not turn anything down,” Arkoosh said. “We’ve been told that we will get a weekly distribution but we haven’t gotten confirmation of that yet.”

Officials said vaccinations also will begin next week at county long-term care facilities for residents and staff through a separate contract between the federal government and CVS and Walgreens pharmacies. County officials do not have input into how that vaccine is distributed.

“There is light at the end of this tunnel. The vaccine is arriving. In a few short months there will be safe and effective vaccine available for our entire community but we need to hunker down