UT Health San Antonio receives first doses of COVID-19 vaccine; more expected at other hospitals this week

By week’s end, nearly 30,000 doses are expected at 11 locations in San Antonio

UT Health San Antonio received the first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 14, 2020. (UT Health San Antonio, KSAT)

SAN ANTONIO – Nearly 6,000 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were delivered to UT Health San Antonio Monday morning, the facility confirmed in a news release.

The doses are among the first to arrive at hospitals in Texas since the vaccine was approved by federal regulators last week. UT Health San Antonio is one of only four sites in Texas to have the vaccine delivered on Monday, according to the news release.

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UT Health San Antonio received nearly 6,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (KSAT)

The other sites to receive the vaccine on Monday included MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Methodist Dallas Medical Center and UT Health Austin’s Dell Medical School.

Vaccinations will begin Wednesday for UT Health San Antonio frontline health care workers, like doctors, nurses and care team members.

Another 75,000 doses of the vaccine were scheduled to be delivered Tuesday to 19 sites in Texas, state officials said, in the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.

UT Health San Antonio received the first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 14, 2020. (KSAT)

By the end of the week, 11 Bexar County hospitals should have a total of 28,725 doses of the vaccine delivered, according to Michelle Vigil, a spokesperson for San Antonio Metro Health.

Those locations include the San Antonio State Hospital, North Central Baptist Hospital, St. Luke’s Baptist Hosptial, Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center, Christus Santa Rosa Hospital - Westover Hills, Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital, Methodist Metropolitan Hospital, Northeast Baptist Hosptial, Wellness 360 and Baptist Medical Center.

“As expected, the initial vaccine supply is limited, and the first week’s allocation is based on information submitted by vaccine providers when they enrolled, including the number of health care workers who can be quickly vaccinated and vaccine storage capacity at each site,” Vigil said in a statement to KSAT.

Vigil said this first week of distribution will be the most limited since a second vaccine by Moderna is expected to be approved soon.

The arrival of the vaccines marks a beginning to the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a welcome sign to health care workers who have been battling the virus since the virus began spreading throughout the United States in March.

The general public will not likely have the opportunity to get vaccinated until the spring, experts believe. The first doses of the vaccine will be reserved for the greatest priority groups first.

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UT Health San Antonio received the first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 14, 2020. (KSAT)