Iran Press/ America: Freight trucks carrying about 184,275 vials of vaccine departed the plant, and the combined 189 boxes of vaccine vials are expected to arrive in all 50 states on Monday, CNN reported.
Another 3,900 vials are expected to ship later Sunday to United States territories, and 400 boxes packed with about 390,000 vials will ship Monday to arrive on Tuesday. There are five doses of vaccine per vial, according to Pfizer.
The excitement surrounding the shipment even brought out small groups of cheering spectators. At Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the vaccine was loaded onto a FedEx cargo plane, Vicki Royce and her husband gathered outside the facility in celebration.
"This is so exciting -- this is history!" Royce told CNN. "The first vaccines are going out. I'm like crying here."
From its origin in Michigan, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine will arrive to hundreds of facilities across the US in the coming days.
"We expect 145 sites across all the states to receive the vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday, and the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer orders for the vaccine," said Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of the federal government's vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization on Friday, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted on Saturday to recommend it for people age 16 and older in the US.
CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield must accept the ACIP recommendation before vaccinations can begin.
The CDC vaccine advisory committee also recommended that health care workers and long-term care facility residents be first in line to receive the shot.
The vaccine arrives at a critical moment for the US. Hospitalizations due to Covid-19 hit record highs for the seventh day in a row Saturday, and with the winter holidays still ahead, experts warn that the pandemic could continue to get worse before the larger public receives the vaccination.
104
Read more:
World watches as first-mover Britain probes adverse reactions to Pfizer vaccine
