Tulane University will receive 5,000 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines early next week, kicking off the school’s vaccination rollout, according to a press release on the university’s news site.
The university has indicated that it will begin by vaccinating Tulane faculty and staff who are “on the front lines of COVID-19 research and community response.” That includes faculty, staff and students at the schools of medicine, public health and social work, campus health personnel who see students and employees infected with COVID-19, food service staff, custodial and operational staff, and employees age 70 or over.
“As the largest private employer in New Orleans, allowing us to participate in the distribution of the vaccine helps to make the entire community safer," Tulane University President Michael Fitts said in the release. "We are committed to rapidly administering vaccines and will be prepared to support vaccinations for those in the Tulane community and beyond as more become available.”
Tulane is one of the first universities in Louisiana to receive the vaccine. Roughly 10,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine were shipped to Louisiana pharmacies this week to vaccinate members of the Phase 1B Tier 1A group.
On Monday the state expanded its vaccination effort to the Phase 1B Tier 1A group, which includes people age 70 or older, providers of dialysis treatment and their patients, home health care providers and their patients, and faculty, staff, students and residents of allied health schools. That designation allows Tulane to receive doses directly from manufacturers like Pfizer for members of its schools that are focusing on the COVID-19 relief effort.
More than 100 Louisiana pharmacies received roughly 10,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine to begin immunizing the Phase 1B Tier 1A group. On Jan. 5, the health department expanded that group to all personnel at health care clinics, including dental and behavioral health providers and staff. It also ordered hospitals to use excess doses of the Pfizer vaccine to immunize this group.
