This San Francisco hospital will be among first to get COVID-19 vaccine – SF Gate

UC San Francisco is one of seven California hospitals chosen by the state's Public Health Department to be among the first in the world for early distribution of Pfizer's COVID-190 vaccine. Health care workers and first responders will be first in line for inoculations amid a pandemic that has changed life as we know it since March. (The department didn't respond to a request for a list of the other six hospitals before this article was published.)

The wheels are already in motion at the public research university where a task force of clinical and pharmaceutical experts have been working with state public health officials to plan for distributing any and all safe and effective vaccines or therapeutics, according to a statement from UCSF.

The exact timeline for the first allocation is unknown but UCSF said it expects to begin administering the Pfizer vaccine as early as December.

Pfizer said its contracts in the early distribution are with governments and the first vaccines will be allocated through country and state's preferred channels and designated vaccination locations.

"Our goal is to start the first shipment as soon as possible, possibly within hours of receiving authorization or approval from any regulatory agency," said Francesca Marzullo, manager of Pfizer Global Supply Communications. "In some countries, health authorities may also issue vaccine recommendations immediately before distributions. We can only supply countries once regulatory authorization or approval has been granted and we will supply each country with vaccine doses through a robust process, consistent with supply agreements weve entered into with individual countries."

In recent weeks, both Pfizer and Moderna announced that the COVID-19 vaccines they had developed were found to be 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively, in phase 3 human trials. Pfizer last week asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization to begin distributing its vaccine, and Moderna is expected to do the same any day. Federal officials say the first doses will ship within a day of authorization.

This week, AstraZeneca became the third vaccine maker to say early data indicates its shots are highly effective.AstraZeneca said Monday that late-stage trials showed its vaccine is highly effective, and unlike the others, this one doesnt have to be stored at freezer temperatures, making it potentially less expensive and easier to distribute.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a Monday press conference the state is preparing for delivery and distribution, but widespread availability to the public is still months away.

"Mass vaccination is unlikely to occur any time soon," Newsom said. "March, April, June, July, that's where we start to scale."

The state launched a community advisory committee of community groups, school leaders and nonprofit organizations to advise on distribution and allocation. A draft of the Phase 1a allocation, targeting 2.4 million health care workers across the state, is due Dec. 1.

Next, the committee will look at allocation of vaccines to individuals in congregate care, the medically vulnerable, medical first responders and those involved in safety infrastructure.

"The first round of vaccinations will be extraordinarily limited," Newsom said. "We begin with a framework of scarcity."

SFGATE contacted the California Department of Public Health for a list of all seven state hospitals that will be the first to issue the vaccine. The story will be updated when we receive this information.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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This San Francisco hospital will be among first to get COVID-19 vaccine - SF Gate