AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tuesday, the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to a local health care worker.
RELATED: Dell Medical School 1 of just 4 Texas hospitals to receive COVID-19 vaccine on Day 1
Nearly 3,000 vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived Monday in Austin at UT Health Austin Dell Medical School. The site just one of four across the state to receive the first doses of the vaccine.
More hospitals across the state will receive the vaccine Tuesday, though none are expected in the Austin-area until Wednesday. There are nine other hospitals across the Austin-area slated to receive the vaccines over the next three days. In total, more than 15,000 doses of the vaccine will arrive before the end of the week.
Those at Dell Medical School will administer shots to thousands of health care workers over the next nine days.
“Because the vaccine has some side effects we have staggered our staff to make sure that we can always keep critical workforce and services as we go through this vaccine period,” explained Dr. Amy Young, UT Health Austin’s chief clinical officer.
This is just the first dose, and health care officials expect to receive the second dose early next year in January.
RELATED: The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines are now in Austin—what happens now?
While healthcare workers are first on the list to receive the vaccine, state leaders are working ahead to the next group of people. In just two weeks, the state plans to team up with Walgreens, CVS, and the CDC to help roll out the vaccine to those living in assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
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