UAB​ To Receive Doses Of Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine This Week

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham this week will receive a shipment of over 10,000 doses of the new Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus.

In a news release, the university said the initial doses will be given to health care workers, including clinic staff, at the UAB Hospital, along with other hospitals in Jefferson County and with Emergency Medical Services workers in the seven-county region.

UAB will be the only location in the county to receive the vaccine because it has access to several minus-80 degree freezers needed to store the vaccine, according to the release.

Doses of the vaccine will be distributed at the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium for UAB employees and at the drive-thru coronavirus testing site at UAB Highlands for EMS workers and employees of other hospitals, the university said.

Recipients will be given a second dose of the vaccine 28 days after the initial dose. This procedure, UAB School of Medicine dean Dr. Selwyn Vickers, results in nearly 95 percent efficacy for the virus.

Vickers, in a statement, encouraged every person to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The speed by which we’ve gotten the vaccine developed is not because of shortcuts. It’s because of next-generation molecular biology techniques that have allowed researchers to develop effective vaccines immediately after the virus was sequenced,” Vickers said, in part.

“Both the Moderna and the Pfizer study took some efforts to include the minority community in their clinical trials. The Pfizer study has over 10 percent African American and over 20 percent Hispanic participants, and the Moderna study has north of 20 percent African American. These studies have included our people to prove they are safe,” Vickers added.

The Alabama Department of Health on Monday announced the first distribution of the vaccine across the state consists of 40,950 doses to be shipped to three sites on Monday and 12 more on Tuesday. The department said it intends to release the names of all 15 participating sites on Tuesday.

Across the state, phase one allocation of the vaccine will result in 50 percent of doses being given to hospital workers, 15 percent to EMS workers, 15 percent for physician offices and 20 percent for other hospital staff.

Phase one also calls for residents of long-term care facilities to be vaccinated through the Federal Pharmacy Program. It's unclear when long-term care facility residents will be given the vaccine.