In his press conference today, Governor John Bel Edwards expressed hope in the COVID-19 vaccine. He commented, “That is how we are going to end this pandemic. But that’s not going to happen for a long time. For a number of months.”
Addressing the vaccines which are close to being approved he said, “We do believe that the FDA may issue the emergency use authorization as early as today. And if that happens, or if it’s tomorrow, we know we are only days away from receiving our first doses of COVID vaccine here in Louisiana.”
Once the vaccine is authorized it will be shipped within 24 hours. Louisiana has recognized sites already that will administer the vaccine. The steps that occur after the vaccine is approved will occur relatively quickly, so within the week doses could be administered.
Edwards clarified, “We do anticipate receiving right around 39,00 doses in the first allocation that comes to Louisiana and then a week later we expect to receive another 40,000 or so…You know that this is a two-dose vaccine and we are not going to be holding onto half of our vaccine and only providing that first injection to a smaller number.”
In Washington, they will be holding on to half of what they have available to provide the second injection. Louisiana will administer all the vaccines they receive as soon as possible, but has been assured that they will be supplied doses for the second injection 21 days after the first.
He went on to say in regard to the vaccine, that “Everyone is going to eventually, obviously, have the opportunity and I do hope that everyone will take advantage of the opportunity they are going to have to be vaccinated.”
Priority groups will be the first to receive the vaccine. The first vaccine doses received, which will likely be from Pfizer, will go to critical hospitals for hospital personnel. It will be administered to doctors, nurses, janitors, and anyone else who is having direct contact with COVID-19 patients.
The second priority group is nursing home residents and assisted living staff who will receive the Moderna vaccine, which is scheduled to be approved a week after Pfizer.
After these groups are served, the vaccine will be administered to individuals based on the risk factors in their lives. It will become available to everyone eventually.
