US Coronavirus: States ready for first Covid-19 vaccinations as America nears 300,000

Keeping it cold

The president of UPS Healthcare, Wes Wheeler, told CNN on Sunday evening that all of the flights carrying the vaccine had taken off from the Louisville, Kentucky, airport and nearly all of the ground deliveries had departed.

The off-load will begin at 8 a.m. ET Monday, meaning the vaccines will be delivered shortly thereafter, around 8:10 or 8:15 a.m., according to Wheeler.

One of the biggest challenges the carrier faces is maintaining the temperature needed for the vaccine, he said.

“The minus-100-degree requirement with dry ice, making sure it moves, making sure the temperature is maintained, making sure the dry ice that follows the shipment after the vaccine arrives, that’s important also,” he said. “Making sure that we coordinate the kits that are going out ahead of the vaccine so the administration sites have everything they need to do the dosing as soon as tomorrow morning.”

Wheeler told CNN’s Ana Cabrera that the command center for UPS is watching every shipment and tracking all of the packages. He said they can see every time a package arrives at one of the UPS sites around the country.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center expects the first doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered between 9:15 and 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, hospital spokesperson, Alexis Shaw said in a statement to CNN.

Once the vaccine arrives, Shaw said, they plan to begin vaccinating about 20 to 30 of the hospital’s “prioritized, high risk frontline health care workers” within 1 to 1.5 hours.

Meantime a University of Michigan Hospital spokesperson told CNN the hospital expected to receive its first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine at 8:45 a.m.

First batch arrives in Los Angeles

“This is a major milestone for science, our country and our community. Thank you to all those who made this delivery possible, and are part of the incredible effort to distribute vaccines around the world,” LAX said.

The virus is still raging across the US with different states varying in their approach to tackling the pandemic, even as they prepare to receive the vaccine.

Sunday marked the third consecutive day California had over 30,000 daily new positive coronavirus cases, according to data released by the California Department of Public Health.

More than 90% of California residents are under orders to stay at home, except for essential needs like grocery shopping, banking, and doctor appointments. The state mandated residents to stay at home once ICU capacity for the region fell below 15%.

States balance precautions with vaccine distribution

“We are at a critical point,” Sisolak said, “We will be monitoring and evaluating our current situation day to day and week by week will remain under the current restrictions for now, with the goal of getting through the next month.”

The state is expecting to receive the first shipment of the vaccine on Monday, Sisolak said. While he did not mention exactly when vaccinations would start, Sisolak said plans are in place to distribute the first allocation to frontline health care workers and staff and residents in the nursing facilities for “immediate vaccination.”

In Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee also said Sunday that his state would be receiving the first vaccine shipments on Monday, with vaccinations expected to begin Tuesday.

An initial 62,000 doses will be distributed to 40 facilities and 29 counties, Michele Roberts, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Washington Department of Health said.

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