Another shipment of 975 doses of the COVID vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech is expected to arrive in Jefferson County next week.

Jefferson Healthcare administered more than three dozen shots Wednesday in the first round of vaccinations for the coronavirus.

Front-line healthcare workers were first in line for the much-awaited vaccine.

Hospital District Commissioner Kees Kolff said JeffersonHealthcare was excited to have been selected as one of the first sites in Washington to receive the initial installment of the vaccine.

Another shipment is expected next week of 975 doses, Kolff told the Jefferson County Board of Health at its meeting Dec. 17.

The hospital also hopes to get a shipment of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine next week.

Health officials conducted a table-top exercise Friday for the vaccine rollout to be prepared, and the effort included Jefferson County Health Officer Dr. Tom Locke. 

"We've been planning extensively for this work with Dr. Locke," Kolff noted.

The hospital launched its community-wide outreach effort on the vaccine earlier this week, and sent out thousands of email messages to residents.

Kolff said there was other good news on the vaccine rollout.

When the first shots were given Wednesday in Jefferson County, the vials of vaccine were not empty after the recommended number of shots from each vial were administered.

"When you take five doses out, there's a little bit of vaccine left in the vial," Kolff said.

"We were able to get six doses out of each vial," he said.

In the future, it may be possible to get seven doses out of every vial, Kolff added.

"This is a significant increase in the amount of vaccine," he said.

Locke told the health board that the next shipment of the Pfizer vaccine will be kept for the second round of shots that's needed for those who received an initial vaccination.

Those shots need to be administered 21 to 28 days after the first.

The second dose is extremely important, he said, as the response rate is only 50 percent with one dose.

"Completing the second doses is the priority," Locke said. "It really takes both doses."

Locke said it may be possible to have three cohorts of vaccinations at once, if the Moderna vaccine is received as expected.

"We'll do these waves of people," Locke said.

Still, information on the vaccines has been limited to state and federal sources, and it's been a "fluid situation" nationally, he noted.

"We think we can handle it," Locke added. "This is the information age. We think we can keep up with the details."

Earlier this week, Locke said 3 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were expected to be shipped to 145 sites.