- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
Health care facilities across Indian Country received their first shipments of the recently approved Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Monday.
The Cass Lake Indian Health Service, one of three Indian Health Service facilities serving Minnesota's Bemidji area, became the first IHS facility to receive an initial distribution of the vaccine. Hospital staff received vaccinations upon its arrival.
The Cherokee Nation also celebrated receiving its first 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, with plans to distribute the vaccine this week.
The shipments of the vaccine are part of a first wave of doses that will be distributed to IHS facilities throughout December, but many people will have to wait to be vaccinated.
IHS expects to receive more than 64,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which was approved last Friday by the Food and Drug Administration, by the end of the month. But as part of Phase 1A of IHS’s vaccine rollout plan, all initial doses will be reserved for health care workers and residents of long-term care centers.
The agency plans to distribute the vaccine to all of its 11 regional programs in the lower 48 states. The distribution of the vaccine to Alaska Native IHS facilities will be sent to the state of Alaska.
The vaccine developed by Pfizer, however, only represents about one-third of the initial purchase by IHS. The agency’s distribution plan calls for two-thirds of its vaccination plan to come from Moderna, which has yet to have its vaccine approved by the FDA.
More Stories Like This
Indigenous Journalists Association President Addresses Members of the UNPFIIInter-Tribal Council Passes Resolution Urging FCC to Establish Specific Event Code for Missing and Endangered Persons
Native News Weekly (April 21 2024): D.C. Briefs
Q+A: Journalist Connie Walker Reflects on Season 3 of 'Stolen' Podcast Investigating Navajo Nation MMIP Cases
Native Bidaské with Sarah Eagle Heart (Oglála Lakota) on the Indigenous Fashion Collective
Native Perspective. Native Voices. Native News.
We launched Native News Online because the mainstream media often overlooks news that is important is Native people. We believe that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope you'll consider making a donation to support our efforts so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous-centered journalism. Thank you.