US: Moderna vaccine ships to smaller Texas hospitals

Twenty Texas hospitals- mainly smaller and regional medical facilities- received shipments of the recently FDA -approved coronavirus vaccine from drugmaker Moderna.

United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, which hosted one of the cities first coronavirus testing sites and has been on the front lines of the pandemic since the first cases struck here, received around 300 doses.

Intensive care unit nurse Vicki Roman was happy to receive her first of two vaccine shots, but said the public still needs to heed to social distancing guidelines and mask wearing.

"I've seen a lot of people die because of covid, people that shouldn't have died, normally wouldn't have died, that didn't have comorbidity," Roman said.

Dr. Jospeh Varon, the hospital's chief medical officer, had bemoaned his facility not being among the first wave to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

"I did make a lot of noise and I went to a lot of people to ask why and eventually we got the moderna. I'm actually that we got the Moderna, because the Moderna is easier to store," Varon said.

Dr. Varon said he will ask for a thousand more doses to cover all the staff in his organization.