Public health directors discuss lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic Alessandra Tarantino/AP A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered at a vaccination center set up in Fiumicino, near Rome's international airport, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. AstraZeneca is of the three vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency for use in the 27-nation bloc, the other two are Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) and last updated 2021-04-16 11:00:56-04 BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) â County public health directors say they've been preparing to handle a pandemic for years. They said year after year, they submit plans to the state on how they would respond, but those plans were not used in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.