Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine coming to Tennessee

Kayla Tippens - Senior | News

Tennessee has been selected as one of four states to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. According to the Department of Health, Tennessee is scheduled to receive 56,550 doses of the vaccine by mid- December.

Governor Bill Lee attended a vaccine summit at the White House on Tuesday. At the summit, Governor Lee said that Tennessee is prepared to administer 100,000 vaccinations in 48 hours.

The distribution of the vaccine will be limited to healthcare workers and first responders in December. Then, the vaccine will be released in phases by priority, but should be widely available to the public by Summer 2021. However, according to a recent Vanderbilt poll, 47% of respondents are unlikely to vaccinate their children.

"We think it's likely that in the next year we'll have COVID-19 vaccines for children, and it's going to be an important step to getting students back to their routines, back to their schools and to mitigating community spread of the coronavirus." said Dr. Steven Patrick, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Child Health Policy.

Though doctors are expecting the vaccine to play an important role in keeping students in school, Governor Lee said that he does not foresee mandating vaccines for students.

“Vaccines are a choice, and people have the choice and will have the choice in this state as to if they take the vaccine, and that will be our strategy as people have them across the state,” Governor Bill Lee said.

The distribution of the vaccine is dependent on whether the Food and Drug Administration decides to continue with an Emergency Use Authorization. Under an EUA, the FDA is able to use unapproved medical products during an emergency.

According to CNN, the FDA informed Pfizer that they plan to “proceed towards an authorization.” However, the vaccine distribution will be on hold until the EUA is confirmed by the FDA.