UW Health receives first shipment of Covid-19 vaccine

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MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) ---Frontline health care workers at UW Health University Hospital were among the first in the state to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials on Monday, Dec. 14, marking the beginning of an unprecedented and historic effort to vaccinate the state’s population to help end the coronavirus pandemic.

The first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived at University Hospital Monday morning with the first vaccination occurring at approximately 2:30 p.m., according to UW Health.

Respiratory therapist Tina Schubert was the first to receive the vaccine.

“It’s important because so many people have died from this,” Schubert said in a video provided by UW Health. “I wanted to have an impact on my community.”

PHOTO GALLERY

UW Health received 3,900 doses of the vaccine today with more shipments expected weekly as the hospital aims to vaccinate thousands of its employees before moving on to long-term care residents and then the wider population.

Governor Tony Evers said Monday the state was set to receive nearly 50,000 doses this week.

UW Health officials said the hospital’s facilities and network made it a strong candidate to be among the first to receive vaccines.

“UW was selected as one of the initial hubs for two reasons,” said Aaron Webb, a pharmacy manager at UW Health. “Probably one because of our initial capacity to store the vaccine as well as the number of providers that would be allocated the vaccine within group 1A.”

Other health care networks, including Advocate Aurora, told CBS 58 they plan on receiving their initial shipments of the vaccine later this week.

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