The first COVID-19 vaccine doses in La Plata County arrived Tuesday.
The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, is a highly anticipated tool in the fight to limit spread of the coronavirus. In Colorado, the first doses will go to medical workers with high exposure risk and long-term care facility staff members and residents.
In Southwest Colorado, including La Plata County, 975 vaccines arrived around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.
“It is one of the great scientific, technical and logistical achievements in recent memory that the scientific community could develop a safe, highly effective vaccine in less than a year,” said Claire Ninde, San Juan Basin Public Health spokeswoman.
In the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine, Colorado received 46,800 doses. Colorado is about 1.69% of the population of the U.S., and each week the state expects to receive 1.69% of the available vaccines, according to a state news release.
In La Plata County, Animas Surgical Hospital received 115 doses Tuesday. Mercy Regional Medical Center was allocated 360 doses and would receive them either Tuesday or Wednesday, said Lindsay Radford, spokeswoman with Centura Health, Mercy’s parent organization.
The vaccine must be administered within 72 hours, and the county’s first vaccination will take place Wednesday.
Distributing the vaccine is a complicated nationwide effort that involves private shipping companies, hospitals and local, state and federal officials.
To reach La Plata County, the vaccine was flown from Albuquerque to Durango and shipped via FedEx to a “super freezer.” The ultra-cold storage unit can keep the vaccine at minus 60 to minus 80 degrees Celsius. The vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius or colder, according to Pfizer.
For security reasons, the location of the freezer and vaccines cannot be publicized, Ninde said.
Pfizer developed its vaccine in 11 months, and the vaccine was found to be 95% effective in its late-stage clinical trial, which enrolled nearly 44,000 people. The Food and Drug Administration approved it Dec. 11 – the first vaccine approval in the United States.
“After nine challenging months, this is a historic week for our communities as we begin the vaccination process that will eventually end this pandemic,” said Andrew French, a doctor and Centura Health’s COVID-19 incident commander. “We all look forward to much brighter days ahead.”
Mercy expects to vaccinate all of its high-risk medical personnel, those who have more than 15 minutes of COVID-19 exposure each day, in the first two vaccine shipments.
According to a statewide survey, 66% of Centura Health associates and more than 90% of its physicians intend to take the vaccine. Centura does not require the vaccine.
Animas Surgical Hospital said some distribution details were being worked out Tuesday. Spokeswoman Karis Morrall said the hospital was considering sharing its doses with Mercy because it does not have an intensive care unit.
“The development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale is an unprecedented endeavor, and Animas Surgical Hospital is extremely excited to be a part of it,” Morrall said.
The vaccine will take months to reach the general population, with estimates varying between early summer and late fall.
Public health and medical professionals emphasized that community members should continue following COVID-19 precautions, such as wearing a face covering in public, social distancing and limiting interactions with people outside a household.
La Plata County remains under Level Red restrictions, with 1,968 cases and 14 deaths among cases as of Tuesday.
smullane@durangoherald.com
