DETROIT – U.S. officials say the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine will begin arriving in states Monday morning.
Army Gen. Gustave F. Perna said Saturday that shipping companies UPS and FedEx will deliver Pfizer’s vaccine to nearly 150 state locations. Another 450 sites will get the vaccine on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Perna is with Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s vaccine development program. He says the vaccine was timed to arrive Monday morning so that health workers would be available to receive the shots and begin giving them.
On Friday, the United States granted an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
According to CNN, Pfizer has told reporters covering its rollout that it expects the first shipments of its COVID-19 vaccine to leave the Michigan facility Sunday morning.
The company originally predicted trucks rolling “within 24 hours” of Food and Drug Administration authorization, CNN reported Saturday.
On Saturday, the US Food and Drug Administration held a press conference on the first COVID-19 vaccine authorization.
Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was expected to meet Saturday morning and vote on whether to recommend the vaccine.
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 426,294 as of Friday, including 10,456 deaths, state officials report.
Friday’s update includes 5,157 new cases and 61 additional deaths. The state crossed the 10,000 mark in total deaths earlier this week.
New COVID-19 cases are slowing but deaths continue to rise in Michigan. Testing has remained steady, with more than 46,000 diagnostic tests reported per day, but the positive rate has increased to near 13% over the last week. Hospitalizations have slowed but remain high over the last five weeks, including upticks in critical care and ventilator use.
Michigan’s 7-day moving average for daily cases was 5,873 on Friday, the lowest in about four weeks. The 7-day death average was 110, the highest since April. The state’s fatality rate is 2.5%. The state also reports “active cases,” which were listed at 218,700 on Friday, near its highest mark on record. More than 197,000 have recovered in Michigan.