The VA Providence Healthcare System began distributing COVID-19 vaccinations to veterans on Wednesday and the rollout has started not a minute too soon. Last week the number of veterans who have died from COVID-19 surpassed the number of American casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, according to Veterans Administration and U.S. Department of Defense statistics.
The first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the VA Providence Healthcare System on Dec. 21 following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization for the vaccine. Providence was among the 113 VA medical centers across the country to receive the initial supply. Sites were identified based on need for the vaccine according to the Centers for Disease Control’s 1A prioritization and each center’s capacity to store the vaccine at -20 C.