LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The first shipment of Moderna arrived In Louisville on Wednesday with 3,000 doses and among the first 22 to receive the first shots within the same day were Mayor Greg Fischer and Director of Metro Public Health Dr. Sarah Moyer.
"We've been fighting this monster for 285 days and so finally to have something where we can go on the offense is great because we've been playing defense for 9 months," Mayor Greg Fischer, said. "As more and more people get the vaccine, people will see there's no side effects to it, give them hope as well."
EMTs, paramedics, those with the Louisville Fire Department and other community health center workers also received their first shots.
"I hope this is the first step toward getting back to normal for everybody so I guess I was pretty excited," Justin Dragoo, Captain, Louisville Metro EMS said. "I think it's good all around. If we get it, and everybody else gets it, we'll all get better together."
After getting the first shot they had to wait for 15 minutes to be monitored. WHAS11 was told there were no issues so far.
Health officials said this initial shipment of the Moderna vaccine was small but they do expect much more in the coming months.
"We're expecting to see further shipments in January and hopefully on a regular basis thereafter. We'll be vaccinating some of our first responders and healthcare workers who don't happen to work for one of our big three hospital systems," Dr. Sarahbeth Hartlage, Assoc. Medical Director at Metro Health.
The city is partnering with UofL Health to vaccinate about 250 more EMS workers and EMT's within the next week.
"The most important is to encourage to everyone to be vaccinated. That's the most important," Miguel Cuoto, a certified medical assistant with the Park Duvalle Community Health Center, said.
City officials also said Wednesday they expect to ramp up vaccine shipments throughout January, and launch a drive-through vaccination site at Broadbent Arena at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
"We anticipate running at least 1,000 people through the site the first week and then when were at full capacity we should be running 1,000 people through the site every day," Dr. Hartlage said.
The first vaccinations through that site will still be Tier 1A, which includes healthcare workers and first responders.
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