Watch: COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Fargo

FARGO (KVRR) – Sanford Medical Center in Fargo has taken delivery of about 3,400 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Sanford Health front-line health care workers in Fargo received the first doses of the vaccine on Monday.

Sanford says the health system has enough cold storage facilities to store almost 500,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Sanford says it plans to focus on reaching rural communities and make sure people get the vaccine as close to home as possible. Sanford has 180 couriers to distribute the vaccine to smaller medical centers across North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

The FDA authorized emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for people 16 and over. The vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart.