KALISPELL — Kalispell Regional Healthcare received its first supply of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday morning, a day earlier than originally expected.
The single box delivered to the hospital by UPS holds 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Following delivery, the vaccines were safely dropped off at KRH’s cold storage unit which has the capacity of holding more the 26,000 doses.
Kalispell Regional Healthcare Chief Medical officer Dr. Doug Nelson says the distribution of the vaccine to frontline health care workers will begin on Thursday. He noted yhe immunizations will follow a strict two-day guideline following US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations.
“A large space set up here at Kalispell Regional, we’re going to have two days both Thursday and Friday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. that are available for immunization,” Dr. Nelson explained. “We’re going to have six different immunization stations within these rooms and then we’re going to observe people for 15 minutes after they’re immunized."
Dr. Nelson says the hospital is expected to receive its second supply of the vaccine next week.