Vaccine rollout puts nation on offense
‘Historic day’ ends wait as first doses shipped
PORTAGE, Michigan — The first of many freezer-packed COVID-19 vaccine vials made their way to distribution sites across the United States on Sunday as the nation’s number of pandemic deaths approached the horrifying new milestone of 300,000.
The rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ushers in the biggest vaccination effort in U.S. history, one that health officials hope the American public will embrace, even as some have voiced initial skepticism or worry. Shots are expected to be given to health care workers and nursing home residents beginning Monday.
“This is a historic day,” said Richard W. Smith, who oversees operations in the Americas for Fedex Express, which is delivering 630-some packages of vaccine to distribution sites across the country. United Parcel Service also is transporting a share of the vaccine.
Helping with the transport of the vaccine has special meaning to Bruce Smith, a Fedex package handler at the Grand Rapids airport whose older sister Queen died after she contracted the coronavirus in May. She was hospitalized in Georgia one day after he saw her on a video chat, and they never spoke again.
“I think she would be ecstatic to know that something that has ravaged our family, that a family member is going to be part of such a big project,” said Smith, 58, whose nephew, Queen’s son, also got sick and is still undergoing therapy for strokelike symptoms. “It is very, very important.”
Tracked with Gps-enabled sensors, the initial shipments were expected to contain about 3 million doses.
Dr. Graham Snyder, who’s led the vaccine task force at Pennsylvania health care giant UPMC, estimates that about half of its employees are willing to get the vaccine as soon as it’s offered.
But many health officials expect enthusiasm to grow.
“There’s that thought that maybe they don’t have to be so afraid to come to work if they can be vaccinated and be immune,” said Dr. Sandra Kemmerly, medical director of hospital quality at the 40-hospital Oschner Health System in Louisiana and Mississippi. Employees approved for the first round are getting texts and emails directing them to schedule their initial injection, she said. Enough vaccine is being saved so that each person who gets the first dose of vaccine can get a second required shot a few weeks later.
Although the vaccine was determined to be safe, regulators in the U.K. are investigating several severe allergic reactions. The FDA’S instructions tell providers not to give it to those with a known history of severe allergic reactions to any of its ingredients.
The Moderna vaccine will be reviewed by an expert panel Thursday and soon afterward could be allowed for public use.