NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee on Monday received its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine to be used as an emergency backup supply, according to the Department of Health.
The state is expecting to receive 56,550 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 on Wednesday, which will then be shipped Thursday to 28 sites to serve 74 hospitals. A second shipment of 56,500 doses is expected to be dropped off three weeks later.
However, Monday’s shipment of 975 vaccine will be used as a reserve should any hospital’s vaccine doses be damaged.
“We have been preparing for months to distribute approved vaccines and we believe this will be a safe and effective tool in the fight against COVID-19,” said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey in a statement.
Piercey added that the state’s early vaccine supply would be “limited” but stressed that the state was in “constant contact with hospitals to prepare administration for our front-line health care workers and long-term care facility residents and staff who choose to receive it.”