Public Health officials will provide an update today on the province’s vaccination plan.

The first 1950 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived on Newfoundland soil yesterday. Because it must be stored in extreme cold temperatures in a special freezer, the first vaccines will be administered from the Health Sciences Centre – mostly to health care workers.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday announced that the federal government has also secured early doses of the Moderna vaccine, which could be distributed by the end of the month pending Health Canada approval.

Because Moderna must be kept at -20 rather than the -70 to -80 range for the Pfizer vaccine, it’s more likely that it will be more broadly distributed especially to northern, remote and Indigenous communities.

The latest provincial COVID briefing is set for this afternoon.