Louisiana will receive just under 80,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine over the next three days.
About 36,000 of those will head to nursing homes and the remaining 44,000 are being sent to tier two hospitals and medical first responders. Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Joe Kanter celebrated the news.
“Every single person now that gets a vaccine is number one a life saved, and number two it brings us just one small step closer to putting this pandemic behind us,” said Kanter.
Last week the state received about 40,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and is expecting just under 30,000 this week. Those are reserved for frontline healthcare workers.
Moderna will now be in circulation with the Pfizer vaccine. Kanter said right now you won’t really have a choice which one you get to take but the truth is they’re both just as effective and safe.
“They are both what is called M-RNA vaccines which is a brand new technology that doesn’t need a virus cell as a host, so they are a very clean vaccine,” said Kanter.
Both vaccines have 94 to 95 percent rates of effectiveness. The Moderna vaccine requires a booster shot 28 days later versus Pfizer, which requires a booster 21 days later.
Kanter said the difference between the two is that the Moderna vaccine is easier to transport than its Pfizer cousin because it doesn’t have to be kept nearly as cold.
“It is hardier so it will go more into the field so EMS, fire, tier two hospitals, and eventually more into the community after that,” said Kanter.
Vaccinations of nursing home residents are expected to begin sometime next week.
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