The first doses of the coronavirus vaccine are on their way to the public.
Gen. Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer for the Defense Department’s Operation Warp Speed, announced during a Saturday press conference that 145 sites across the country will receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday morning.
“Make no mistake. Distribution has begun,” Perna said. “Right now, boxes are being packed and loaded with vaccine with emphasis on quality control.”
Perna added that 425 sites will receive doses on Tuesday, and another 66 will receive them on Wednesday.
About 3 million doses are expected to be shipped out initially, the Associated Press reported, citing Operation Warp Speed officials. A similar amount will be held back for second doses for the initial recipients.
On Friday, the vaccine received emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. Next week, the FDA is scheduled to review a vaccine from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health.
“Science and data guided the FDA’s decision,” said FDA chief Stephen Hahn. “We worked quickly because of the urgency of this pandemic, not because of any other external pressure.”
