How Distribution of NYC’s Covid-19 Vaccine Will Work; Infection Rates Continue to Rise

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

Manhattan-based Pfizer and its Germany partner BioNTech are poised to become a beacon of light during this COVID-19 winter. On Monday, a historic step in combating the pandemic was taken with distribution trucks making their way across the country with shipments of the first federally approved COVID-19 vaccine.

As per the NY Post, New York City has received its first batch containing 72,000 doses of the vaccine on December 14. NYC, formerly the global epicenter of the pandemic, has already suffered 35,000 casualties. Over the next three weeks, more shipments are expected to follow, with another 465,000 doses expected for NYC.

The State of New York, in all, prepared to receive 170,000 doses of the vaccine during Monday’s rollout, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo allocating 90 regional distribution centers for cold-storage of the shot. The vaccines need to be stored in ultra-cold freezers at minus 94 F or below, but are thawed so that the shots are administered at room temperature.

The Post reported, the initial deliveries will be made to 44 public and private hospitals across NYC’s five boroughs over the next three days. The city’s first doses arrived at five hospitals Monday, 37 more hospitals will receive them on Dec. 15 and two more hospitals on Dec. 16, said city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi during a City Hall press briefing. The vaccine injections will be administered to their recipients at the hospitals where they are shipped.

The first to receive the potentially lifesaving vaccines will be front-line health care workers and nursing home staff and then residents of nursing homes. The first person to receive the vaccine in NY as well as in the U.S. was Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Eastern Queens, at about 9:25 a.m. on Monday. “It didn’t feel any different from taking any other vaccine”, she said after getting the shot, with livestream cameras looking on.

The novel and notorious Coronavirus has already claimed 300,000 lives across the U.S., and took our economy hostage for the past nine months. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration pushed back by granting Pfizer’s vaccine authorization for emergency use. Across the country’s 50 states, 145 distribution centers received roughly 2.9 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine in the first phase of the vaccine rollout.

Pfizer’s vaccine requires two doses, the second to be taken three weeks after the first. Therefore, another 2.9 million doses will be held back to ensure that those who get the first dose, will be ensured a second dose, said Gen. Gustave Perna of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed.

Additionally, Moderna’s vaccine is now being reviewed by the FDA and may be approve for emergency use as early as this week.