The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department issued a release with preliminary plans for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the Upper Peninsula on Wednesday. Vaccinations are expected to begin next week in the Upper Peninsula, beginning with healthcare and emergency services personnel, followed by nursing facility staff and residents. They expect the vaccine will not be available to the general public until March or April.

These priority groups were designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the press release.

The plan is starting with the Pfizer vaccine and will continue with the Moderna vaccine once that is available, expected next week.

Pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens are receiving direct shipments of vaccines and will be administering it to nursing homes. Tribal health departments are receiving direct shipments through Indian Health Services. The Department of Corrections is also slated to get doses for their staff and inmates.

Additional vaccine doses are supposed to arrive weekly, and be distributed based on CDC priorities as supply and demand allows.

Kate Beer, health executive and chief officer at WUPHD, said distribution of the vaccine will likely be similar to the COVID-19 tests- coordinated with an individual’s healthcare provider with some community-wide clinics available.

Exactly how things progress will depend on how soon and what exact vaccine becomes available.

“There’s different brands out there right now,” Beer said. “And each brand or each label has to be dealt with a little bit differently, the storage and handling of it, so it’s going to depend on what vaccine will be available.”

The currently-shipping Pfizer vaccine has a much colder storage temperature than the soon-to-be-available vaccine by Moderna.

“So we’re thinking that the Pfizer vaccine will be best utilized in the healthcare arena, as far as health care workers or long term care facilities, or things of that nature,” Beer said.

Beer said the vaccine will be cost-free, though some providers may be able to bill insurance for administrative costs.

“No individual should incur an out of pocket cost for the vaccine,” she said.

Beer said the vaccine comes as a shot in the arm, similar to the flu vaccine. Both COVID-19 vaccines require two doses from the same manufacturer. The Pfizer vaccine requires the second dose after three weeks, and Moderna after four.

Beer said she hopes at least 70% of Michigan’s population will be vaccinated within a year, and that they will release more information as details become clear.

As of Dec. 15, just under 10,000 doses of vaccine had been distributed to the state, according to the dashboard at michigan.gov/coronavirus. Those doses have gone to four counties; Kent, Midland, Oakland and Washtenaw. Data from Dec. 14 shows only ten doses have been administered so far, all of the Pfizer vaccine and at a hospital. These numbers are reported to the state by those administering the vaccine, who have as much as 24 hours to report them.

Across the entire Upper Peninsula as of Dec. 12, the state reports about 1,300 COVID-19 tests are being given daily, with a turnaround time averaging three and one-third days, and about 7% positive results for the virus. The daily positive test rate peaked in early November, hovering between 12% and 15% until the current shutdown order was given. New cases have dropped to about almost a quarter of what they were at the time.

Data as of Dec. 15 reports 69 Intensive Care Unit beds across Region 8- the Upper Peninsula- and 47 of them occupied. 52 people are hospitalized with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, 2 on ventilators, and 13 in the ICU.