ST PAUL, Minn. — For the first time, we're getting a look at when Minnesotans might starting getting a COVID-19 vaccine; and for some, it's likely to happen before Christmas.
Governor Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm reported Wednesday that the federal government will issue an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) next Friday, December 11th, meaning an unapproved vaccine can be used during a public health emergency.
MDH also reported that it could be as soon as a week after that, December 18th, that vaccinations may start in Minnesota and that some training is required for people administering the immunizations.
"Our hope is over the next week we’ll have tighter timeline and we’ll start operationalizing this," said Gov. Walz. He said there's a large network involved to distribute the vaccines that he likened to a flu clinic.
In general, health care workers are expected to receive a vaccine in the first round. But even within that round, there are three subsets of people. Firefighters, for example, fall within the second subset and there are questions surrounding whether they should be higher up.
"From a personal perspective, I think it makes sense to get these folks vaccinated as quickly as we can," said Walz. "If we can get protections into our police departments, our fire departments, our EMS, they are going to be able to respond to all of those myriad of issues."
The field of health care workers is very broad and local experts have some ability to prioritize who gets a vaccine first and make those recommendations to the governor, but Commissioner Malcolm says they are also required to follow the framework laid out by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
First responders, though, have been hit especially hard with COVID-19.
Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington says, "I'm hearing literally every day from police departments, sheriff departments and fire departments that are having COVID impact their ability to do the right thing."
Harrington says there are about 500 fire departments in Minnesota and 99 of them have had major outbreaks, including in Plato, a 20-person volunteer department an hour west of the Twin Cities. Last month, the department had so many firefighters test positive for COVID-19, it couldn't respond to calls and had to rely on mutual aid.
At the same time, 20-percent of the Eagan Police Department was impacted by the virus.
"One of our staff was hospitalized after an exposure and it took him two months to fully recover and return to work," said Eagan Police Chief Roger New.
Everyone on the Plato Fire Department has fully recovered and there are three positive cases still within the Eagan Police Department.
The men who spoke on behalf of those organizations said they are both ready and willing to be vaccinated.
"My hope is that more will be excited than not," said Plato firefighter Jay Wood about the rest of the members of his department.
Commissioner Malcolm did say there will not be enough initial doses to vaccinate everyone who is eligible in the first round, but that being in that first category is critical. She and the Governor plan to hold another briefing with more information on Tuesday.