Imperial County could see COVID-19 vaccine mid-December

CBS 13's Alexandra Rangel takes a closer look at the timeline

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - As local COVID-19 numbers rise, the Imperial County Public Health Department is planning ahead. It's preparing for a time for when a COVID-19 vaccine will available, which may be soon according to local health leaders.

Vaccine developers are starting to see promising results. Pfizer is one company in particular that says their vaccine is proving to be 90% effective.

In a County board meeting Tuesday, the Imperial County Public Health Department said Pfizer might be a vaccine coming to the valley.

Pfizer's vaccine is still in the third stage of trials, but if trials continue to be favorable the vaccine will soon get shipped out to local health departments, state health officls say that could be as early as mid-December.

“There are still trials going on so there is still a lot of unknowns. At this time we are getting ready and planning for distribution for when the vaccine becomes available," said Jenette Angulo, ICPHD director.

Angulo says the first distribution of the vaccine would be a small number and would go to the most vulnerable population.

Since the vaccine is still in the trial stage, Angulo says it’s still very unclear when exactly a vaccine will be ready, it all depends if the trial phase goes as planned.

If the vaccine is ready in December, the health department says they will be ready with a plan to properly store the vaccine and to distribute it to the most vulnerable.