AP’s health and science journalists and their regional colleagues worked nonstop for weeks to gain access to the launch of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign, the largest vaccination program in U.S. history. They reached out to old sources and spent weeks cultivating new ones, breaking down barriers to ensure that AP was positioned to cover the story – from trucks rolling with vaccine deliveries to the first jabs in arms.
Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are prepared for shipment from the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Portage, Mich., Dec. 13, 2020.
AP Photo / Morry Gash
Colleen Teevan, system pharmacy clinical manager at Hartford HealthCare, administers the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19 to a front-line healthcare worker outside Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Conn., Dec. 14, 2020.
AP Photo / Jessica Hill
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine administered by Dr. Michelle Chester, Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York.
AP Photo / Mark Lennihan
Hannah White, left, a registered nurse and the first person in the state of Oklahoma to receive Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, embraces acting Oklahoma State Commissioner of Health Dr. Lance Frye, after receiving the vaccine at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Dec. 14, 2020.
AP Photo / Sue Ogrocki
The source reporting paid off. Tips were aggressively followed and coordination between video, photo and regional news desks led to robust back-to-back all-formats pieces on the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine, including healthcare workers receiving the first injections. Video went live from several hospitals that were among the first to vaccinate front-line workers.
Play was unmatched. The vaccine shipment story appeared appeared on more than 2,500 news sites and landed on at least 69 front pages including the Chicago Tribune, the Detroit News, the Kansas City Star and others.
The story of the initial vaccinations appeared on at least 1,300 news sites and 64 front pages, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Orange County Register and others.
The New York Times used AP photos as its lead image on consecutive days.
Both stories attracted high readership on the AP News site and app, and had excellent engagement on social media sites.