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Vice President Pence, Gov. Lee discuss Tennessee COVID-19 vaccination plan

Posted at 1:07 PM, Dec 03, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-03 22:10:09-05

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WTVF) — Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Bill Lee joined members of the Unified Command Group for a roundtable discussion on Operation Warp Speed on Thursday afternoon.

Air Force Two landed in Memphis around 1 p.m. and the vice president was greeted by Gov. Lee.

The group discussed Tennessee's plan for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, as well as Memphis-based FedEx's role in shipping the vaccine nationwide.

Watch the entire discussion below:

State officials estimate Tennessee will receive the first round of vaccines around December 15. Front-line health care workers will be the first to receive vaccinations. Dr. Lisa Piercey, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, said the vaccine will likely be made available to the general public around late spring or early summer.

Read more: A look inside Tennessee's COVID-19 Vaccination plan

TDH officials said the state expects to receive 56,550 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at first. The vaccine will be shipped directly by Pfizer to hospitals.