Denver 'prepared' to receive first vaccine shipments as early as Dec. 12

Denver's Department of Public Health and Environment is preparing to receive a first shipment of coronavirus vaccines, which could come as early Dec. 12.

Two vaccine candidates — created by Moderna and Pfizer — have both requested emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Both vaccines were proven to more than 90% effective, and they now await an authorization from the FDA.

Spokespeople for the Denver and Tri-County health departments said both counties had been told to prepare the arrival of doses by the end of next week.

The Dec. 12 timeline is still "pending approvals, review by CDPHE and the Governor's Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee," Denver spokeswoman Tammy Vigil said.

She said that Denver didn't know exactly when or how many doses it would be receiving as part of the first shipment. Messages sent to CDPHE were not returned Wednesday.

Katie O'Donnell, spokeswoman for the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment, said that the "CDC has said they'll get shipments out around that time." But she said the agency was not expecting doses by Dec. 12.

The vaccines will be distributed to states based on population. Colorado will receive 1.69% of the weekly shipments from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a state spokeswoman said. 

"Colorado does not have a confirmed date for vaccine arrival, but as Dr. Fauci mentioned yesterday, we expect some allocation in the next few weeks," the spokeswoman said. "We are planning for distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine to be prepared for multiple scenarios."