LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine made its way to UK Healthcare Tuesday as the state moves one step closer to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UK HealthCare received 1,950 doses of the vaccine, which were among nearly 12,000 doses available in this week's initial rollout for Kentucky's health care workers.
Among the first to receive the vaccination were UK Chandler Emergency Department employees Dr. Charles Eckerline; Registered Nurse Hinali Patel; Abby Bailey, pharmacist; and Nursing Care Technicians Claire Stockwell and Jeremy Jones.
On Friday, the U.S. gave the final go-ahead to the Pfizer vaccine, launching emergency vaccinations in a bid to end the pandemic.
The FDA called the vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech safe and strongly protective.
"After 10 months of being on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are excited for the good news that a vaccine is now available and that we can offer it to some of our health care workers at UK HealthCare," said Dr. Mark Newman, UK executive vice president for health affairs. "We will be providing the first vaccinations to our front-line employees who have direct patient care primarily for COVID-19 patients or under investigation for COVID-19. While we know that we have a long way to go in ending this pandemic, we are grateful to be part of this momentous first step."
