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2nd COVID-19 vaccine authorized in US ships out

Virus Outbreak Moderna Vaccine
Posted at 11:24 AM, Dec 20, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-20 11:24:58-05

OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. (AP) — Initial shipments of the second COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the U.S. have left a factory as the nation works to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control.

The trucks left Sunday from the Moderna McKesson plant in Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Employees began boxing up the shots at the factory in the Memphis area early Sunday morning.

It comes just days after the Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the vaccine.

An expert committee later Sunday will debate who should be next in line for early doses of the vaccine.

Early shots are mostly being given to health care workers and residents of long-term care homes.