The newly approved Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived at Rochester this week and is starting to be administered to Medical Center health care workers.
Beginning today, the Medical Center will open a clinic that will vaccinate 200 employees every four hours. Michael Apostolakos, chief medical officer at the Medical Center, said additional shipments of the vaccine will be rolled out in phases, and his best guess is that the general public would be able to receive the vaccine between June and August of next year.
“We’ve had to share a fair amount of difficult news over the past 9–10 months, and I’m delighted to join with my colleagues to share this great news today,” said Apostolakos, in a press conference on Tuesday. “The Pfizer vaccine has proven safe and effective in rigorous scientific trials involving tens of thousands of persons. Hope for the end to this pandemic is on the horizon.”
A recent Medical Center Town Hall provides more information about the vaccine and the vaccination process.