Local health officials are predicting that coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Utah will surge throughout January. (Photo: University of Maryland School of Medicine via AP, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — It won’t arrive via reindeer-drawn sleigh, but shipments of COVID-19 vaccines will be just as welcome when they arrive at Utah hospitals, and it could happen in under two weeks.
Rich Lakin, immunization director for the Utah Department of Health, says the first of several COVID vaccines, from Pfizer, could arrive at local hospitals in less than two weeks. That’s as long as the federal government grants emergency approval for their use.
“So the 15th of December is when hospitals, those five hospitals, would receive their vaccine. And then the week of the 20th, we get additional doses from Pfizer,” he said.
The five hospitals set to receive the vaccine are LDS Hospital, University of Utah Hospital, Intermountain’s main medical center in Murray, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center and Dixie Regional Medical Center.
The U.K. approved Pfizer’s vaccine already in that country, but U.S. officials are still considering the request.
Lakin told KSL the week of Dec. 20 could also bring doses of the Moderna vaccine to the state. Additional doses of both could arrive by Dec. 27.
COVID-19 coronavirus spreads person to person, similar to the common cold and the flu. So, to prevent it from spreading:
Utah’s Coronavirus Information
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Utah Coronavirus Information Line – 1-800-456-7707
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention