The first shipments of a COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Louisville’s UPS Worldport Sunday for distribution around the country, including Kentucky. The first doses are expected to be administered on Monday.
The federal Food and Drug Administration issued emergency authorization for the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine late Friday night. By Sunday morning, the first shipments had arrived at Louisville’s UPS Worldport from a storage site in Michigan.
UPS did not release details on the total number of doses, specific locations where the doses will be delivered and security measures.
Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday the Pfizer vaccine will be distributed in the state on Monday and administered soon after.
“We now believe that the first individuals will be vaccinated here in the commonwealth (Monday) morning. We are less than 24 hours away from the beginning of the end of this virus,” Beshear said Sunday in a statement.
Under Kentucky’s vaccine distribution plan, 12,675 doses will be shipped to 11 hospitals in Louisville, Paducah, Bowling Green, Madisonville, Pikeville, Lexington and Edgewood. Another 25,350 doses will be distributed to CVS and Walgreens for inoculations in long-term care facilities.
Also on Sunday, Beshear announced another 2,454 cases of COVID-19 and 15 additional deaths. Below is the full report:
- New cases today: 2,454
- New deaths today: 15
- Positivity rate: 8.52%
- Total deaths: 2,207
- Currently hospitalized: 1,712
- Currently in ICU: 434
- Currently on ventilator: 224
