Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer receives a dose of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, the city's top health strategist and even Santa Claus rolled up their sleeves Wednesday to receive the coronavirus vaccine as the city continues to develop a plan to vaccinate thousands upon thousands more.

Fischer, Dr. Sarah Moyer of the Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness and Kriss Kringle — or a pediatrician dressed like him — joined frontline health care workers in receiving an initial dose of Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine when 3,000 doses arrived in the city Wednesday.

"I'm feeling really excited right now, almost to the point of tears," Moyer said. "Today is the 286th day that my staff has officially been battling the pandemic, but, really, it's really almost a year for us, because we started tracking data and monitoring the situation in China last December."

The first shipment of Moderna vaccines arrived at Louisville's UPS Worldport on Sunday — less than a week after the first Kentuckians received doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine at UofL Health. 

"We've been fighting this monster for 285 days, and so finally to have something where we can go on the offense is great, because we've been playing defense now for over nine months," Fischer said. 

Dr. SaraBeth Hartlage, the interim medical director for Metro Health & Wellness, said the vaccination of first responders and other health care providers will continue over the next couple weeks. Hartlage also revealed that officials are planning to construct a drive-thru vaccination site at Broadbent Arena/the Kentucky Exposition Center that should be up and running in early January. 

"We anticipate running at least a thousand people through the site the first week," she said. "When we're at full capacity, we should be running a thousand people through the site every day." 

Hartlage and other health officials said that doesn't mean the public should stop taking precautions around the holidays. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and state health officials have recommended limiting private social gatherings to eight people from at most two households.

If you choose to host or attend larger gatherings, doctors recommend getting tested for COVID-19 before and after being around others.

"The bottom line, everybody, is we want to stay safe here in 2020, so you can be with your loved ones in 2021," Fischer said. "Please remember that when you might want to take a chance and say, 'Oh well, I know grandma, it won't be a problem.' You got to assume that everyone is carrying the virus."

Reporting 47.5 average daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, Jefferson County remains in the red zone for "critical" virus spread, according to data from the Kentucky Department for Public Health. That incidence rate is down from 59.9 on Dec. 1 and from 65.9 in late November. 

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