Editor's Note: The information published in this story is accurate at the time of publication. Always refer to uab.edu/uabunitedfor UAB's current guidelines and recommendations relating to COVID-19.
Video: Jeff Myers and Andrea Reiber
On December 15, University of Alabama at Birmingham received 10,725 COVID-19 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. With this shipment, UAB will vaccinate 7,507 hospital personnel (both UAB and other Jefferson County hospital personnel), 1,609 clinical personnel, as well as 1,609 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel from the seven-county region in a 40-mile radius.
Vaccinations are by appointment only and will be scheduled starting today. Recipients will be scheduled to receive the initial dose and the follow-up dose.
UAB is committed to delivering the vaccines to our employees and frontline personnel in our community in a safe, timely and strategic manner.
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Roseann Trimble, manager of UAB Hospital Employee Health, and Tomie Ann Boackle, associate chief pharmacy officer, escort the FedEx team who delivered the initial doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to UAB on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Photography: Steve Wood, UAB
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This is the first shipment of the novel coronavirus vaccine to arrive at UAB. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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UAB received 10,725 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Photography: Steve Wood, UAB
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The vaccine was shipped in boxes that have a layer of dry ice on the bottom, a thermal container that holds the vaccine doses and another layer of dry ice on top. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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UAB is the only location in Jefferson County selected to receive supplies of the vaccine. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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UAB Medicine and the university have several of the minus-80 degree freezers needed to store the vaccine. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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Associate Chief Pharmacy Officer Tomie Ann Boackle unpacks and stores the vaccine doses in one of the minus-80 degree freezers in the hospital. Photography: Steve Wood, UAB
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Research shows that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective after both doses are given in the prescribed 28-days-apart timeframe. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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Vaccinations are expected to begin on Friday, Dec. 18. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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Vaccinations are by appointment only and will be scheduled in advance. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
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Recipients will be scheduled to receive the initial dose and the follow-up dose. Photography: Lexi Coon, UAB
As of December 15, UAB is not currently offering the COVID vaccine to patients. This is because there is a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine available, and the CDC and the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) has issued guidance that the first vaccines should go to health care teams, emergency service workers, and long-term care facilities. We are carefully monitoring this situation as it evolves and will make sure that our UAB Medicine patients are notified and are given the opportunity to receive a vaccine once the vaccine is made available to the public, consistent with CDC and ADPH guidance. Please note that it could be early spring before the vaccine is more widely available to the public. We do not have additional information on when the vaccine will be available to you but will continue to communicate as we learn new information.