Shipments of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Bay Area counties were expected to begin as early as Sunday night and continue into Monday.
However, Marin County’s public health officer told KCBS Radio they’ve been informed the county’s shipments will come two days later than initially scheduled. Three medical and research facilities each equipped with deep freeze storage units in Marin had been prepared to receive nearly 2,000 vials of the vaccine.
"We have been told up until (Sunday) that Monday was our date, so we’re now in a little bit of a delay, a couple days," said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County Public Health Officer. "(We’re) obviously disappointed."
Dr. Willis said representatives of the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed have not said why there’s a delay.
"I imagine that it’s obviously incredibly complex logistical operation to try and get the product sent out of the factories into the cold storage trucks to be able to move them across the nation," he speculated.
We’ve reached out to other Bay Area counties to see if they too expect shipment delays. Alameda County officials told KCBS Radio they expected to receive their first vaccine doses Tuesday and will begin distributing it during the week.
Both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties were among several in California scheduled to receive sizable shipments of doses early this week.
Either way, the vaccine was scheduled to arrive at Oakland International Airport by either specially equipped FedEx or UPS vehicles, part of an enormous nationwide operation not seen since the polio vaccine in the early 1950s.
"As soon as we get them on Wednesday, we’ll be distributing them to our three hospitals," Dr. Willis said. "Their plan is to start vaccinating on Thursday of their staff."
Later in the week, staff at 13 skilled nursing facilities countywide are expected to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
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