PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania is getting 97,500 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in its initial rollout, which is being distributed to hospitals across the state this week for health care workers.
Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine calls it a “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Today is just a great day where we start immunizing people,” she said Monday, following announcements that health care workers in the Keystone State and others have already been immunized.
Some vaccines were administered at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on Monday. In all, Pennsylvania is sending the vaccine to 87 hospitals across the state, which will then administer the immunizations.
The challenge: Pfizer’s vaccine needs to be stored at nearly -100 degrees Fahrenheit.
“These are hospitals that have the ability to refrigerate the product,” Levine said, “and have the ultra-cold chain and the ability to give at least almost 1,000 vaccines in a pretty short period of time after they receive the product.”
Because Philadelphia is one of the biggest cities in the country, it is getting its vaccine allotment directly from the federal government — approximately 13,650 doses, which are separate from the state’s total of 97,500.
Levine said they’re hopeful the Moderna vaccine will start shipping next week, if approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Pennsylvania is distributing the vaccine in three phases based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first to receive the vaccine are health care workers and vulnerable residents and staff at nursing homes and long-term care facilities, followed by front-line workers.
“That is the initial rollout of the vaccine, which is considerable,” Levine said. “We have tens of thousands of health care workers and obviously many vulnerable seniors and staff at these long-term care facilities.
“It will still, however, be months before manufacturers produce enough vaccine to immunize the general public.”
Both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines require two doses — the second injected a few weeks after the first. Levine said Operation Warp Speed, the federal program behind the vaccine, is storing and tracking a second dose for each first dose that they ship.
The federal government has earmarked $340 million for vaccine distribution — a little more than $1 per person — which Levine said is a good start, but she says they’ll need more, especially to do community outreach and education about the vaccine.
As of Sunday, Pennsylvania is close to passing 500,000 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.