‘The beginning of the end of COVID-19.’ UK HealthCare’s test run for vaccine succeeds.
Kentucky’s largest hospital successfully completed a trial run this week for ordering and receiving doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, which it expects to do in real-time by mid-month.
University of Kentucky HealthCare in Lexington was chosen by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Kentucky Department for Public Health to simulate a “distribution readiness test” for Pfizer’s two-dose coronavirus vaccine, expected to arrive at UK, and select locations around the state as soon as late next week.
Though contingent on emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week, “we anticipate that it’ll either be the 14th or 15th when we would be able to start vaccinating,” UK HealthCare Chief Pharmacist Philip Almeter said Friday morning.
The readiness test involved UK placing a faux order through the state health department with Pfizer for vials of the vaccine, and a separate order with McKesson Corporation for medical supplies to administer the vaccine, like alcohol swabs, syringes and diluent.
Confirmation shipping orders from both companies were received by UK on Tuesday, and the boxes (which only included paperwork) arrived simultaneously late Thursday morning, signaling a trial run success, UK officials said Friday.
Kentucky is slated to receive just over 38,000 initial doses of the Pfizer vaccine by mid December. The bulk of those doses will go to nursing home staff and residents, and the rest — 12,675 doses — will be distributed to 11 hospitals. Eight of those hospitals, including Baptist Health Lexington, will receive 975 doses, and UK and Norton Healthcare in Louisville will get 1,950 doses.
Since the Pfizer vaccine requires ultra-cold storage until it’s administered — minus 80 degrees Celsius — the test run helped UK gauge whether the container with the would-be vaccine remained appropriately cold while it shipped. It did, Almeter said. “There was a temperature probe that was keeping real-time monitoring, and everything was in line,” he said. “The test went very smoothly. We didn’t have any hiccups.”
While the mock run was fairly simple — an order was placed, and empty boxes were received — it was crucial to gauging the time between order, shipment and arrival, and to showing that the vaccine container can maintain the necessary freezing temperature, Almeter said. Once the Pfizer vaccine thaws, it must be used within five days. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require a second dose, or a booster shot, about 21 days after the initial dose. Almeter said UK expects to receive the accompanying Pfizer booster “before the 21 days is up.”
UK has roughly 9,000 health care employees, though not all work directly with patients. The first batch of the Pfizer vaccine is reserved for those health care workers most at-risk, including those who work directly with coronavirus-positive patients and in emergency care.
UK’s distribution of the Pfizer vaccine will be similar to its flu vaccine drive: select staff will be able to choose from a variety of times and locations to get their dose. UK is not making the coronavirus vaccinations mandatory.
While “early on, the amount of vaccine is going to be small compared to the needs, we’ll be gradually building on this over time,” said Dr. Mark Newman, UK’s vice president of health affairs. UK has enough ultra-cold freezer space to store at least 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Almeter said.
Once Kentucky does begin to receive vaccines, each dose administered will be logged in the statewide immunization registry, so the state can track who received which dose and how many vaccines the state has left.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to start to have the beginning of the end of COVID-19,” Newman said.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 1:16 PM.
