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What we know as 1st shipment of Moderna vaccine arrives in Arkansas

The first shipments of the Moderna vaccine will be prioritized to residents and staff in long-term care facilities.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Monday, Arkansas began receiving shipments of the Moderna vaccine with more coming Tuesday and Wednesday. 

The Moderna vaccine rollout is going to look a little different than what we saw with the Pfizer rollout.

The Pfizer rollout was focused on getting it to those frontline workers inside the hospitals, where the Moderna rollout is more focused on giving it to the people inside nursing homes.

This is why Lacey Hoggard with Woodsprings Pharmacy in Jonesboro said pharmacies are gearing up to get started.

"Our goal is to administer their vaccine and get it all out before Christmas," she said.

It's a hefty goal, but a necessary one, as more Arkansans continue to lose their lives to COVID-19, but Hoggard said more help is on the way.

"We are one of 10 pharmacies in the state to receive [the Moderna vaccine] this week. More pharmacies, I believe, are expected next week," she said. 

According to Hoggard, the Moderna vaccine arrived at their door via FedEx on Monday morning. Now that it's in their hands, it's all about who it's distributed to next.

"When the nursing homes applied for COVID vaccinations, they had the choice to choose which pharmacy they wanted to administer it," she said.

That choice was made by each nursing home and the rollout process will begin, as soon as this week, for pharmacies to administer the vaccine to those staff and residents, according to Hoggard.

"Especially with cold and flu season here, this is our most critical population right now that needs to get the vaccine," Brooks Rogers said.

Rogers, with Don's Pharmacy in Little Rock, said now that the shipment has arrived and they have the green light from the Arkansas Department of Health, it's all about logistics with the nursing homes.

"We're currently working with those facilities that we've been assigned by the health department to get that coordinated and go and administer the vaccine to those patients as soon as possible," he said.

A coordination process that Hoggard believes should be easier than the Pfizer vaccine, since Moderna is stored in a regular freezer, compared to an ultra-cold one, and can be refrigerated for up to 30 days, compared to Pfizer's five.

"The length of time you can refrigerate it is significantly longer, which allows a little more ease in navigating logistics in getting it out to your patients," she said.

Several hospitals across the state added that they aren't sure whether or not they will even be receiving the Moderna vaccine at all. 

The state also received a second shipment of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday.

    

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