Riverside County gears up for first batch of COVID-19 vaccines this Friday

Here in Riverside County, Health officials are gearing up. Our first batch of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine doses are set to arrive Friday. 

News Channel 3’s Dani Romero has more on how the county is preparing for the arrival of the  vaccine shipment. 

The wait for the COVID-19 vaccine in Riverside County is almost over. 

“Its a good news situation at a time when there is plenty of not so great news when it comes to the numbers and impact of the pandemic on our community,"said Jose Arballo, public information specialist for Riverside County Health.

The county is preparing for the arrival of more than 14,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.  They provided a video showing the cold storage.

For full video, click here.

“Some hospitals in the county will be getting their shipments directly," said Arballo. "Then others will go through the county the smaller allocations.” 

Jose Arballo, a county spokesperson, said frontline workers with the most exposure to COVID-19 will be offered shots first.

 But depending on the hospital  it could take some time before employees are vaccinated. 

“Each hospital has its own plan," said Arballo. "So within that plan it could be a day or two or it could be some period later.”  

But this vaccine requires two doses.

“Employee would be working with their facility to make sure that they can come back on that day to get the second dose you don’t want to wait too long after or before, make sure you’re right on schedule to get the full effect of the vaccinations," said Arballo.

While the Pfizer vaccine requires storing it in extremely cold temperatures, the county is prepared for the second shipment. 

“By the next time the doses come in, the freezers will be empty, plus will have four of the new ones that will be able to use wherever in the county.” 

The county is expecting that second round of Pfizer vaccines and possibly the first round of Moderna vaccines by Christmas