(La Porte County, IN) - The first shipment of vaccines arrived at Michigan City’s Franciscan Hospital Thursday, and on Friday morning doses started going out to frontline healthcare workers.

The hospital says 106 appointments have been made for Friday, with about 250 scheduled Saturday.  Hospital staff will keep a full schedule over the next couple of weeks administering the vaccine.

During a conference call yesterday, County Councilman Randy Novak explained the initial roll-out. "The people that are going to be vaccinated right now, people are being notified to come in," he said. "It's not open to the public; there's no place for an individual that's not a licensed healthcare worker, EMT, or first responder to go at this point.  It's a process set out by the state."  Vaccines will be made available to the public over the coming weeks and months in phases according to state guidelines. 

The current shipment of vaccine, from Pfizer, contains over 5,800 doses.  A second delivery will come to La Porte County next week.  Anyone who receives the vaccine will need two doses.  La Porte’s batch of vaccines will also cover healthcare workers in Starke County.