More Than 100 North Texas Sites To Receive Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Next Week
(CBSDFW.COM) - Wylie Fire Chief Brandon Blythe was excited to learn his fire station is among 1,100 locations statewide expected to receive doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine next week.
Anticipating the FDA's emergency use authorization late Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services released a list of the locations allocating a total more than 460,000 doses of the vaccine.
Wylie Fire Rescue will receive 300 doses, which will be offered first to the city's 65 firefighters, all of whom double as paramedics and who respond to calls where they may be exposed to COVID-19.
"We've seen a huge increase in these call types, especially in the last few weeks," said Blythe.
Thirty-five locations expected to receive shipments of the vaccine as soon as Monday are in Dallas County, 38 in Tarrant County, 22 in Collin County, and 13 in Denton County.
Quantities vary from 100 doses to as many as 3,000.
The list includes doctors' offices, community clinics, and pharmacies.
Celina Drug, a small family owned pharmacy with just six employees will get 500 doses. Like other recipients, it's awaiting further instruction on how to make sure the vaccine goes to those who most need it.
"People are excited about it. They're glad to have this," said Jon Albrecht, chief pharmacy officer at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
The hospital was the first in North Texas to receive Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine and says it will receive nearly 2,000 more doses next week, enough to immunize every employee wanting one. With the right type of syringe, it's also found it can draw six doses, not just the expected five, from each vial.
"Twenty percent more doses, twenty percent more people we can treat, which I think is really cool," he said.
The hospital has urged vaccinated workers to sign up with V-safe, a CDC program to collect feedback on how patients feel in the days following vaccination.
Methodist has also monitored the more than 3,000 who've already received their shot for significant side effects. So far, Albrecht says, there have been none.
"We've seen the side effects be far less than even we anticipated – and probably less than what we see with flu vaccine. So that's pretty exciting as well," he said.
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