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Gov. Ricketts: Neb. getting fewer doses of vaccine than originally expected

Next week's vaccine shipment isn't arriving
Posted at 10:06 AM, Dec 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-16 22:32:42-05

LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts provided an update on the state's plans for distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday.

By the end of the day Wednesday, Nebraska is expected to have received all of the shipments of the first allocation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. A delay in the supply-chain has caused Nebraska not to receive any shipments next week.

The state was expected to receive 19,000 Pfizer vaccines next week. This delay bumps down the 104,000 total vaccines Nebraska was expecting to have by the end of year to 82,000. We reached out to Pfizer to see what caused this delay and they denied the problems saying it's not on their end. The statement is below.

Pfizer has not had any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed. We are continuing to dispatch our orders to the locations specified by the U.S. government.”

"I'm not exactly sure what the supply chain problem was but it's okay we're going to adapt and we'll work through it," Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services incident commander Angie Ling said.

DHHS hopes that the Moderna vaccine is approved by the FDA Thursday and will begin shipments this weekend, still providing some vaccines for Nebraskans next week.

"We are very excited about the Moderna product because we have so much rural space in Nebraska and it's an easier product to work with," Ling said.

The Moderna vaccine is easier to store than the Pfizer vaccine and doesn't have to be kept as cold. If the fda makes the approval, 32,000 Moderna vaccines will be allocated to Nebraska next week. This will stretch to 112 hospitals and health departments – focusing more on rural areas.

Ling says this delay pushes the original goal of vaccinating all frontline workers by the end of the year, to the middle of January.

Read more: Nebraska administers first coronavirus vaccines

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