LONG BEACH PENINSULA — With a coronavirus vaccine becoming available in the United States as soon as this week, providers on the Long Beach Peninsula are preparing to receive and distribute the initial batch of doses before Christmas.

Both Ocean Beach Hospital and Peninsula Pharmacies have enrolled into the federal Covid-19 Vaccination Program, a necessary step in order to receive and distribute coronavirus vaccines procured by the federal government. With Pfizer’s emergency use authorization for its vaccine expected to be approved following a Dec. 10 Food and Drug Administration hearing, doses could be shipped throughout the country in just a matter of days.

Pull Quote

‘Know that we do have a plan, all of the providers are on board and ready to do what we need to do to get [the vaccine] out to the people that need it.’

Mary Goelz

Pacific County vaccine coordinator

The vaccines are expected to be shipped in batches of 975 doses, in a storage container with dry ice pellets that can be re-iced several times to help ensure the vaccine remains at the appropriate temperature. Pfizer’s vaccine must be stored at minus-70 degrees Celsius to be effective when administered.

The storage containers are critical for providers that do not have the ultra-cold freezers at their facilities, such as smaller, rural providers. Jeff Harrell, owner of Peninsula Pharmacies, said none of the company’s pharmacies have ultra-cold freezers of their own, and have been told that the containers the vaccines are being shipped in are roughly the size of five pizza boxes stacked on top of each other.

Larry Cohen, CEO of Ocean Beach Hospital, said Pacific County officials purchased an ultra-cold freezer for the hospital to have for storing the vaccine once it arrives, but the freezer’s vendor is backlogged and it likely won’t arrive until mid-January. The lack of a freezer until then shouldn’t be a problem, Cohen said, since the storage container of dry ice can be replenished to last for up to 15 days.

The ultra-cold storage of the vaccine will not be necessary for Moderna’s vaccine, which is receiving its own emergency use authorization hearing with the FDA on Dec. 17. Moderna’s vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, about the temperature of a normal refrigerator, for up to 30 days, the company claims. Pfizer’s vaccine can only last up to five days when refrigerated.

“The cold chain distribution of Pfizer’s vaccine is a great limiting factor for a lot of people,” said Harrell. “The other vaccines, we’re ready for today.”

At the front of the line

Once the vaccine does arrive locally, the expectation is that high-risk healthcare workers, along with residents and staff of long-term care facilities, will be first in line to receive the vaccine, according to Mary Goelz, Pacific County’s vaccine czar.

The initial recommendations for who should receive vaccine prioritization came from an independent advisory panel within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The panel will meet again in several weeks to determine who should be next in line for the vaccine.

After the vaccine has been administered to the highest priority individuals, it’s not yet known who will be in line to receive the vaccine next. Goelz suggested that healthcare workers not at a high risk of contracting the virus, along with emergency first-responders, could be next in line. Other possibilities include teachers, workers in essential industries such as food production, those with underlying medical conditions, and older people in general. A vaccine is not expected to be made widely available to the general public until the spring or summer.

Goelz, who for 31 years was the county health director before retiring in January, came out of her brief retirement to help the county’s vaccine distribution efforts. In a Dec. 2 virtual forum, she said county officials have spent the past several months working with providers in Pacific County to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to distributing the vaccine.

“We’re really working together — we’ve got a processed plan for how that’s going to look. The biggest challenge will be getting enough of the vaccine, because it does come in sets of 975 doses,” Goelz said.

The expectation, she said, is for the state to get initial doses of Pfizer’s vaccines by around the middle of next week. After that, the vaccine will be distributed to the different parts of the state. The Washington State Department of Health said it expects to receive about 62,400 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine initially, with an estimated total of 200,000 doses by the end of the month. In January, the state said it should begin receiving regular weekly shipments of the vaccine.

“Know that we do have a plan, all of the providers are on board and ready to do what we need to do to get [the vaccine] out to the people that need it,” Goelz said.