In a dry run ahead of COVID-19 vaccine, Memphis health officials to administer drive-thru flu shots – Commercial Appeal

Memphis and Shelby County residents could get a novel coronavirus vaccine, if and when it comes,at a drive-thru site in Shelby County, the Shelby County Health Department said Thursday.

The health department plans to test how it would distribute and administer a novel coronavirus vaccine at drive-thru sites. To test how that would work, they plan on using the flu vaccine, David Sweat, the chief epidemiologist at the Shelby County Health Department said.

Sweat said the department and Memphis and Shelby County COVID-19 joint task-force would announce more about which sites would be used for the test-run in the coming weeks.

The health department's announcement comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told U.S. states last week to be ready to distribute a novel coronavirus vaccine by Nov. 1.

At present there are two U.S. vaccine candidates that are in the final trials before a potential approval by the U.S. Food and Drug administration, according to the New York Times vaccine tracker. Those final trials, known as stage three trials, are when thousands of people are given dosages of the vaccine to study its effectiveness and safety.

Those two vaccine candidates one from Moderna and another the trio of Pfizer and a German and Chinese firm could potentially be the first vaccine administered on a broad scale. However, there are many other vaccines in earlier stages of testing.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.

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In a dry run ahead of COVID-19 vaccine, Memphis health officials to administer drive-thru flu shots - Commercial Appeal