1st Coronavirus Vaccines Administered In Ohio

COLUMBUS, OH — Doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given to frontline health care workers in Ohio on Monday, making them the first Ohioans to receive the vaccine.

Health care workers at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center were the first people in the state to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Later on Monday, workers at University of Cincinnati Health also received doses of the vaccines.

"This is a very exciting day for Ohio. It's the day that starts the process toward the end of the pandemic. The end is a long way off, but the end is in sight. Every day as we move forward from here, we'll see more and more people vaccinated," Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday while standing outside Wexner Medical Center.

Both Wexner Medical Center and UC Health received 975 doses of the vaccine on Monday, DeWine said. Eight other hospitals in Ohio will receive 975 doses of the vaccine. Here are the hospitals receiving vaccines Tuesday:

• Mercy Health Springfield Regional Medical Center in Clark County;
• OhioHealth Riverside Hospital in Franklin County;
• Aultman Hospital in Stark County;
• OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital in Athens County;
• Genesis Hospital in Muskingum County;
• Mercy Health St. Vincent Hospital in Lucas County;
• Cleveland Clinic in Cuyahoga County;
• Metro Health Medical Center in Cuyahoga County;

"These vaccines will allow our healthcare workers to continue to fight COVID-19 on the front lines to get us through the pandemic," DeWine said on Twitter.

Ohio will begin vaccinations in nursing homes on Dec. 18, DeWine said. The state will vaccinate patients in five to 10 nursing homes at that time.

DeWine expects Ohio will receive 660,000 COVID-19 vaccines in December and another 660,000 vaccines in January. It's unclear how long it will take Ohio to vaccinate the majority of its population, the governor admitted.

In the coming weeks, Ohio health officials will roll out a COVID-19 vaccination dashboard. The dashboard will allow Ohioans to track how many people have been vaccinated in the state and in their county.

Ohio is in the midst of its worst COVID-19 surge. The Buckeye State is now averaging more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, 71 new COVID-19 deaths per day, and faces a scarcity of health care workers due to an influx of COVID-19 hospitalizations.