Pence to visit Indiana for tour of Bloomington coronavirus vaccine production facility

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Vice President Mike Pence will visit his home state on Tuesday, Dec. 15, to tour a COVID-19 vaccine production facility in Bloomington, Indiana.

Pence, the former governor of the Hoosier State, will also lead a roundtable discussion on Operation Warp Speed and the efforts to develop the vaccine, according to the White House. The vice president will return to Washington on Tuesday evening.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine in the coming days after it received the endorsement of a U.S. government advisory panel Thursday.

Indiana is scheduled to receive about 55,000 doses of the vaccine when it is authorized. Those first vaccines will be shipped to five hospitals around the state: Clark Memorial in Jeffersonville, Deaconess in Evansville, IU Health Methodist in Indianapolis, Community Hospital in Munster and Parkview in Fort Wayne. Health officials said the hospitals were picked for geographic diversity and their ability to provide the ultracold storage needed for the vaccine.

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