It's the moment that many have been waiting for all year: Vaccines designed to safeguard against the COVID-19 virus have arrived in Central Oregon. St. Charles Health System received its first doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Thursday, which arrived in the state earlier this week.
WATCH: St. Charles released a video Thursday of the arrival of its first doses:
In a press event Tuesday, representatives from St. Charles said the health system was scheduled to get 975 doses to start with—all of which were slated to go to caregivers at St. Charles, including those in Madras, Redmond and Prineville as well as Bend, who have already begun scheduling their inoculation times. In an internal survey, about 90% of medical staff said they would get the vaccine, St. Charles reported Tuesday.
The State of Oregon is expected to send additional doses within 21 days, when the second dose is needed. Both the
Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which already received emergency use authorization, and the Moderna vaccine, expected to be approved this week, require two doses.
Earlier this month, officials from the Oregon Health Authority said they anticipated having about
100,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of December, vaccinating both frontline health care workers as well as "very high risk individuals."
St. Charles Health System/Screenshot
The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, heading to ultra-cold storage Thursday.