Update, Dec. 21:

D.C. announced that Medstar Washington Hospital, Howard University Hospital, George Washington University Hospital, Children’s National Hospital, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, and Sibley Memorial Hospital will receive additional shipments of the Pfizer vaccine by the end of the month.

The city also said a number of non-hospital locations will receive shipments of the Moderna vaccine to widen access and continue to vaccine those in Phase 1a. Local federal qualified health centers like Bread for the City and Community of Hope will each receive 400 doses. Five Giant pharmacies and ten Safeway pharmacies across the city will receive a combined 8,000 doses.

Original story continues below: 

D.C. will distribute its initial allotment of coronavirus vaccine doses to six medical sites throughout the city. That first shipment of 6,825 doses will come from Pfizer, pending federal approval which could come in the next few days.

The city will prioritize health care workers and first responders in the first wave of vaccinations. But the initial allotment will not be enough for everyone in the District’s “Phase 1a” of vaccine recipients — which includes around 85,000 people.

That group includes nearly 34,000 full- and part-time medical site staff, nearly 15,000 nursing and residential care facility employees, and more than 8,000 home health providers, among others.

“We will begin with those health care workers who work in emergency settings, those frontline health care workers,” Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt said, “And we have worked collaboratively with the health care providers … to identify those individuals.” Nesbitt said it would not only be doctors and nurses who get the first doses, but “techs, environmental services staff” and others.

“At the end of the day, vaccinating health care workers first ensures we have a healthy workforce that’s available to take care of and treat sick people. Protecting the workers helps to protect the patients,” Nesbitt said. ‘

After “Phase 1a,” doses will start going to the “1b” group which includes residents that are medically high-risk, over 65 years old, law enforcement, grocery store workers, hospital staff, those experiencing homelessness, and school staff.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said she expects the city will continue to receive shipments of vaccine every one or two weeks but that it is not clear whether subsequent shipments will be the same size as the first. The Moderna vaccine could also soon win federal approval and vaccines from several other companies continue to progress through clinical trials.

The medical sites set to receive batches of the first doses are: Medstar Washington Hospital, Howard University Hospital, George Washington University Hospital, Children’s National Hospital, Kaiser Permanente and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

Nesbitt says these medical sites all have the “necessary equipment to store the Pfizer vaccine,” which must be kept at -94 degrees Fahrenheit.

In June, the city also started acquiring supplies to help administer the vaccine which include 184,000 needles and syringes, one million alcohol prep pads, and one million band-aids.

Nesbitt also explained that D.C. would use a “hub and spoke model,” so these facilities can partner with other health care sites to administer vaccines. For example, Nesbitt said Children’s National will partner with United Medical Center.

While it’s expected the Pfizer vaccine will receive federal approval in the coming days, the city cautions that the administering of the vaccine won’t happen right away. This is due to guidelines still needing to be set and local vaccinators to be fully trained.

When pressed for a timeline about when the first vaccine could be administered in D.C., Nesbitt said she couldn’t provide one.

“It’s impossible to do that,” said Nesbitt. “I’d surmise anyone who is doing that is ambitious.”