Colorado received its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday as part of the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
A FedEx driver delivered a box holding 975 frozen vials of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech to Colorado's health department laboratory in Denver. Gov. Jared Polis eagerly opened the delivery door and signed for the package. After opening the box, he held down a tracking device for five seconds to confirm that Colorado had received the doses. The small tray of doses inside the box was then put in an otherwise empty freezer obtained by the state just for the vaccine.
"It's a powerful and an emotional moment to celebrate the begin of the end of the pandemic," said Polis, who recently contracted COVID-19 along with his partner, Marlon Reis.
Polis said Colorado would be getting over 40,000 does of the Pfizer vaccine through Wednesday which will be stored in similar freezers around the state.
