State’s first vaccine shipments arriving soon, officials say

FRANKFORT – Kentucky is expecting to receive approximately 38,000 doses of the vaccine against the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) as early as mid-December, Gov. Andy Beshear and Dr. Steven Stack, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH), said Monday.

“Those will be provided to 38,000 individuals. We can go ahead and provide the first of these shots, and then we will receive the booster shots about three weeks later,” Beshear said. “We will be ready on moment one that we’re able to provide these vaccines.”

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both require an initial shot followed by a booster shot.

While the number of doses and allocation plan are subject to change, Beshear said as of Monday the majority of the state’s initial vaccine shipment will go to long-term care (LTC) facilities; about 12,000 doses will go to hospitals to help inoculate health care workers.

“Every week we do not vaccinate long-term care residents, we lose them,” Beshear said. “With vaccines, we can provide such better protection to these individuals. We’ve been taking aggressive steps since the beginning of this virus, committed to fighting back, not surrendering to it or accepting avoidable loss.”

The state’s immediate goal is reducing COVID-19 deaths, Beshear said. With 66 percent of the deaths coming from LTC facilities, vaccines could help significantly decrease Kentucky’s COVID-19 death toll beginning in January, he said. Also, because LTC residents tend to require the most care, vaccinations in LTC facilities will help reduce COVID-19’s burden on Kentucky’s health care system, he said.

This week, the state is participating in an end-to-end exercise with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pfizer and McKesson to test one shipment of an empty thermal shipping container and a mock ancillary kit to one clinic site, the University of Kentucky Medical Center. The test run will help the state prepare for the initial vaccine distribution to LTC and health care facilities; the initial distribution will, in turn, prepare the commonwealth for even larger, more complex distributions in the months ahead.

“There is an extensive process in play here. First of all, these companies had to build these vaccines, they had to do the research, they had to demonstrate that they were safe,” Stack said. “Concurrently, we’ve had to consider how we will use these vaccines when very small quantities are available at the beginning, but there are many, many people who need the vaccine. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is going to have an emergency meeting tomorrow to further refine their recommendations.

“There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not out of the woods yet. If we all mask up and socially distance, we can buy our hospitals the time they need.”

Kentuckians can visit the KYCOVID-19 website for more information on the vaccines, including the state’s draft plan and FAQs. A public service communication campaign is also expected to launch this month.