Minnesota in Line to Get 183,400 COVID-19 Vaccines by the End of 2020

December 8, 2020

Site Staff,

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – Gov. Tim Walz and state health officials outlined Minnesota’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan in a statewide address Tuesday.

Walz said he expects Minnesota will get its first vaccine shipment “sometime in the next week or so.” However, Walz cautions there is an unclear and shifting schedule for delivery of both Pfizer and Moderna’s initial vaccines.

Minnesota is in line to receive 46,800 vaccines by next week and 183,400 by the end of the year, based on the most recent forecast from the federal government, Walz said.

Walz said the state’s COVID-19 distribution plan follows a “hub and spoke” model. The federal government will ship the vaccines directly to key hospitals, or “hubs”, across the state, which have ultra-cold storage facilities to store the vaccine at the correct temperature. From there, the vaccines will be distributed to smaller clinics, or “spokes.”

“Minnesota’s plan is solid. We’ve been working on this for months,” Walz said.

The vaccine is administered in two doses with the shots given 21 or 28 days apart, depending on whether a person gets the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresmann said it will take about six weeks from the date of the first dose of the vaccine before someone can expect to be protected from COVID-19.

“The end of COVID is out there,” Walz said.

How many initial vaccines will Minnesota receive?

Health officials anticipate Minnesota will receive 183,400 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the end of the year.

However, the schedule for delivery of both Pfizer and Moderna’s initial vaccines are subject to change. Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm warned the federal government is giving less assurance right now than even earlier this month about vaccine shipment amounts.

It will take a week between when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the vaccine and the first shots in the arm in Minnesota, according to health officials. The FDA is expected to approve the Pfizer vaccine by Dec. 10 and the Moderna vaccine by Dec. 17.

How will vaccines be distributed?

Vaccines will be shipped directly to providers using what Walz described as a “hub and spoke” model.

The vaccines will be shipped directly to key hospitals, or “hubs”, across the state. The hubs have the ultra-cold storage facilities needed to store the vaccine at the correct temperature. From there, the vaccines will be distributed in smaller clinics, the “spokes.”

Minnesota will have 25 hubs and 118 spokes statewide.

Who among the large group of health care workers and long-term care residents will get the vaccine first?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending health care workers and long-term care residents get vaccinated against COVID-19 first.

Minnesota health officials have broken down the first phase of the state’s vaccine rollout plan into three broad priority groups:

Phase 1a: Healthcare workers, long-term care residents

Phase 1b: Essential workers

Phase 1c: High-risk adults, adults 65 or older.

Minnesota has about 500,000 people in the 1a priority group.

Health officials say you will get priority for the vaccine this month if you are one of the following: