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The vaccine truck leaves the Pfizer factory in Michigan in the early morning of December 13 local time – Photo: REUTERS
Beginning in the early hours of December 13 local time, personnel wearing masks at the Kalamazoo city factory began transferring boxes of vaccines from the freezer. They clapped and whistled as the first boxes of vaccines were loaded onto the truck.
This is a long-awaited moment in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the United States. However, it will take months to vaccinate most Americans.
On December 11, the US government issued an emergency license for the vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. The country will begin the full-scale COVID-19 vaccination campaign on December 14.
General Gustave Perna, who is in charge of implementing the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, said there will be 2.9 million doses of the vaccine in the first batch this month. Health workers and the elderly in nursing homes will be the first to be vaccinated.
Pfizer factory staff cheered as the first batch of vaccine was loaded into the vehicle – Photo: REUTERS
According to General Perna, the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech will ship to 145 locations in the United States beginning December 14.
The remaining 636 distribution sites selected by US states and territories will receive the vaccine on December 15 and 16. Pfizer will provide additional vaccines weekly.
Staff packing the COVID-19 vaccine at the Pfizer factory in Michigan, USA, December 13 – Photo: REUTERS
The Reuters news agency said police were escorting these heavily protected packages from the factory to the end point.
The first batch of vaccine from the Kalamazoo plant will be transferred to nearby parked aircraft for delivery to United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx centers in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, Tennessee.
From here, the vaccine will continue to be shipped by truck or plane to 145 vaccination centers. The vaccine will be kept at a low temperature during transport.
The transfer of vaccines is carried out urgently from first thing in the morning – Photo: REUTERS
