The Food and Drug Administration authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Friday, Dec. 11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then accepted a recommendation from an advisory committee for doses to be distributed to people ages 16 and older.
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"Texas is slated to receive more doses THIS MONTH than the total number of Texans who have tested positive for COVID," Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Saturday.
Many hospitals in Texas are set to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as Monday and Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Below is the list of hospitals:
Monday, Dec. 14
- San Antonio: Wellness 360 (UTHealth San Antonio)
- Dallas: Methodist Dallas Medical Center
- Austin: UTHealth Austin Dell Medical School
- Houston: MD Anderson Cancer Center
Tuesday, Dec. 15
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- Amarillo: Texas Tech Univ. Health Science Center Amarillo
- Corpus Christi: Christus Spohn Health System Shoreline
- Dallas: Parkland Hospital
- Dallas: UT Southwestern
- Edinburg: Doctors Hospital at Renaissance
- Edinburg: UT Health RGV Edinburg
- El Paso: University Medical Center El Paso
- Fort Worth: Texas Health Resources Medical Support
- Galveston: University of Texas Medical Branch Hospital
- Houston: Texas Children's Hospital Main
- Houston: LBJ Hospital
- Houston: CHI St. Luke's Health
- Houston: Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center
- Houston: Houston Methodist Hospital
- Houston: Ben Taub General Hospital
- Lubbock: Covenant Medical Center
- San Angelo: Shannon Pharmacy
- Temple: Baylor Scott and White Medical Center
- Tyler: UT Health Science Center Tyler
According to health leaders in the state, healthcare providers or workers inside medical facilities, along with nursing home residents and staff, will be the first to get the vaccine.
Shipping companies UPS and FedEx will deliver Pfizer's vaccine to nearly 150 state locations, according to Operation Warp Speed officials.
"We have 18 clinics across the Harris Health system, most, if not all of them are now equipped with the deep freezer situation so that they can receive the vaccines," Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, President and CEO of the Harris Health System said. "When the amount of vaccine is adequate enough, we can start vaccinating our public."
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city has prepared a plan for when the vaccine will be widely distributed to the community.
"When it does come time to for the wider community, we want to make sure that communities that have been impacted the most by COVID-19 are not on the back end of equity and distribution," Turner said.
Initial doses are scarce and rationed as the U.S. joins Britain and several other countries in scrambling to vaccinate as many people as possible ahead of a long, grim winter. It will take months of work to tamp down the coronavirus that has surged to catastrophic levels in recent weeks and already claimed 1.5 million lives globally.
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The move sets off what will be the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history -- but it also has global ramifications because it's a role model to many other countries facing the same decision.
It offers the ability "in this situation where the pandemic is out of control, to bring hope to the people," Dr. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech, told The Associated Press.
MD Anderson issued the following statement regarding vaccine distribution:
"The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is prepared to accept, store and distribute the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine following the Food and Drug Administration's decision on Friday, Dec. 11, to grant Emergency Use Authorization. At present, state and local health officials have allocated 4,875 doses of vaccine in the first shipment to MD Anderson for use with frontline health care workers, which is scheduled for delivery on Monday, Dec. 14. Supplies needed to administer the vaccine were received last week.
MD Anderson's initial vaccination clinics will safely and efficiently vaccinate health care workers caring for highly immune compromised patients and those with increased risk of occupational exposure. Vaccination clinics are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Dec. 16. MD Anderson is committed to providing workforce members accurate information to help them decide whether and when to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. All safety precautions and current COVID-19 protocols, including masking, social distancing, handwashing and visitor limitations, continue to be required."
The Associated Press and ABC News contributed to this report.