It’s official: vaccinations have finally begun in the U.S.
The moment we’ve all been waiting for since the pandemic first hit has finally come to fruition. The U.S. has officially started vaccinating for Covid-19.
Louisiana’s first official vaccination happened yesterday at Ochsner Medical Center. The Pfizer vaccine was given to Debbie Ford, Ochsner’s director of nursing.
The medical center received its first doses Monday and promptly began administering the first vaccines to doctors, nurses and other health care workers.
“Today was the first step on our long road to beating COVID-19. The start of the vaccination gives us hope, but this is just the beginning. We must keep masking up, social distancing, and acting responsibly to stop the spread of COVID until everyone can get vaccinated,” said Governor John Bel Edwards in a tweet late Monday.
This morning, the first COVID-19 vaccines were distributed to health care workers in Louisiana. This moment was made possible by the hard work of medical professionals across the world, and we owe it to these heroes to act responsibly to continue to fight the spread. #lagov pic.twitter.com/yMYCZa949s
— Gov. John Bel Edwards (@LouisianaGov) December 14, 2020
Vaccinations will continue throughout the week, prioritizing frontline healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Louisiana is expected to receive 80,000 doses by the end of December.
It will be a little while before vaccines become widely available. The Louisiana Department of Health predicts that the vaccine will become available for the general public in the coming spring or summer.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine on Friday, allowing for its distribution nationwide. It’s the first to be approved by the FDA, and is currently only recommended for individuals 16 and older. Also in the works is the Moderna vaccine, which will be reviewed by the FDA this Thursday at a Vaccine Advisory Committee Meeting.
[Featured image: Pexels]