BOISE, Idaho — The Moderna vaccine has begun arriving at hospital and primary care clinics around Idaho.
St. Luke's announced that 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine were distributed to medical facilities in McCall and the Wood River Valley.
Air St. Luke's flew the vaccine to those rural communities Wednesday morning.
Saint Alphonsus also received its first shipment of the Moderna vaccine.
Saint Alphonsus shared photos of the vaccine arriving in boxes on Wednesday.
Hospital officials say frontline healthcare workers will be getting this vaccine soon.
Primary Health Medical Group recently received its first shipment of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and is on track to vaccinate more than 400 people during the first week.
Primary Health first offered vaccine to its own staff and providers.
Additional vaccine has or will be, administered to select other health care providers in the Treasure Valley.
Dr. David Peterman, pediatrician and CEO, explained the vaccine rollout so far.
“Our first priority was to offer COVID-19 vaccine to our employees, and I am thrilled to say more than 300 of our staff and providers have already taken advantage of that," he said. "In addition, we expect to receive 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine this week, at which point we will continue vaccinating health care workers outside Primary Health at four of our Boise locations."
Peterman says they are working closely with the hospitals to coordinate this effort. The ultimate goal is to administer 200 vaccinations per day.
Moderna gained FDA approval of its vaccine last week.
This vaccine does not have to be stored in ultra-cold freezers like Pfizer's – making it easier to distribute.
According to the state's coronavirus website, 6,538 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered statewide so far.
