Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear received the very first dose from the Moderna vaccine publicly Tuesday morning.
First Lady Britainy Beshear, Top court Chief Justice John Minton, Senate President Robert Stivers, Speaker of the home David Osborne, Executive Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown, Commissioner from the Department for Public Health Steven Stack and Michelle Searcy from the Franklin County Health Department also received the vaccine.
The point of obtaining the vaccines publicly was to demonstrate confidence in them, Stack said.
“I think it’s very important for those Kentuckians to have confidence within the science behind we've got the technology that made these vaccines,” he explained.
Beshear said anyone who gets vaccinated must still take precautions, and he urged compliance with obtaining the booster shot after a couple of weeks.
“You don't get that 94 or 95% effectiveness without both the shot and the booster,” he explained. “So, everybody available must make certain they obtain the second shot, the us government is holding that allocation for you.”
Beshear said the vaccines show there's light at the end of the tunnel, but he encouraged Kentuckians to carry on social distancing and wearing masks for the near future.
Kentucky will have gotten more than 150,000 doses from the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines after the month, Beshear said.
On Sunday, the CDC recommended the next batch of vaccines is going to a wider number of essential workers as well as people over 75. Beshear said he doesn't know how many vaccines Kentucky can get in January, but the state will have to learn how to distribute them.
“The next goal would be to see that, to determine how to narrow a minimum of areas of it a bit, which may be required for our planning,” he said.
Beshear said he might convey more information about how those groups will be vaccinated next week. To date, frontline healthcare workers and long-term care staff and residents have obtained a lot of the vaccines.
