COVID Vaccines Could Be Available Here Late 2020

Coronavirus vaccines could be available in Fayette County as early as the end of this year, according to Fayette County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau.

“Currently we have four providers in the County that are pre-approved to distribute the vaccines,” Moreau said.

Those facilities include St. Mark’s Hospital along with a doctor’s office, a nursing home and a pharmacy that has not yet been named.

“I expect more will come on board,” Moreau said.

Vaccines will be distributed to healthcare providers first, Moreau said.

“The next priority will be those who are elderly or who have pre-existing conditions,” Moreau said. “The last round will be those who are not elderly or have complicating conditions.

“I expect the first round distributions in this area probably sometime by the end of the year,” Moreau said.

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to make an announcement on Dec. 10 regarding the vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech. FDA is also reviewing another vaccine made by Moderna for emergency use authorization. Four other vaccines are under development.

Distribution could be complicated by refrigeration requirements for some of the vaccines. You can’t just stick them in a standard freezer, which run at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The Pfizer vaccine requires storage at -90 degrees F.

“That will be a major challenge,” Moreau said.

In other local coronavirus news, Fayette County continues to offer in-home COVID-19 testing. The County rolled out the program on Nov. 16. Anyone wanting to get tested through this program should contact their doctor, who can then send orders for testing.

Chris Story, a medical student working as an intern for the County, has been going door-to-door administering the tests. County Emergency Management Chief Craig Moreau said Story has been testing between four and eight people daily since the program began.

“We haven’t had a huge need for that, because most people are able to use the drive-through,” Moreau said. “But the people that need it really need it. It’s also been great having an extra body to help out at the drivethrough.”

As Moreau said, the County has also been offering drivethrough testing at La Grange Family Health every afternoon Monday through Friday. Moreau said the location has been testing about a dozen people each day.

“Some days its 10, some days its 30,” he said. “Our overall testing rate has been very high per capita. There’s always room for more. I’m a hug fan of testing. It helps especially if you can catch asymptomatic people, so then they’re not going out and spreading it more.”

• As of Wednesday morning in Fayette County there were 15 active COVID cases and an additional 33 probable cases according to county officials.