Submitted by PeaceHealth
COVID-19 vaccines are officially underway at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center. The first Whatcom County PeaceHealth caregivers received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine the morning of Friday, Dec. 18.
Agnes Kuc, a nurse in the hospital’s COVID-designated ICU, was the first to get vaccinated, followed by Raj Deol, MD, pulmonary intensivist.
Both Kuc and Deol were emotional upon receiving their vaccines. “When I look back to the beginning– when there were so many unknowns– and think about all that we’ve been through since then, it means a lot to be here today,” Kuc shared.
Deol labeled the vaccine a “medical miracle” and said, “If there’s one thing that sums it up, it’s hope.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sudhakar Karlapudi recognized the celebratory and hopeful day as a “new beginning,” but noted, “We cannot let our guard down. Our struggle with this pandemic continues. We have to do what we have done for the past 10 months to prevent the spread of the pandemic. We have to wash our hands. We have to maintain social distance, and we have to wear masks.”
The hospital has received 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. In alignment with guidance from the CDC and state departments of health, PeaceHealth is prioritizing the limited supply of first doses for healthcare workers providing face-to-face patient care, as well as other higher risk groups of healthcare workers.
PeaceHealth continues to work through its “1-A” prioritization list, which includes:
- Caregivers providing hands-on care to confirmed COVID-19 positive patients.
- Emergency Department caregivers with face-to-face patient contact.
- OB triage caregivers with face-to-face patient contact.
- Respiratory therapists.
- Walk-in clinic caregivers with face-to-face patient contact.
- Caregivers performing COVID-19 tests at designated testing clinics.
- Caregivers who perform their duties inside patients’ homes.
- Staff entering COVID-19 units not performing direct patient care.
- Emergency Department caregivers who do not provide direct patient care.
- Lab services where COVID-19 tests are processed.
More information about COVID-19 vaccines and how they will be distributed can be found at https://www.peacehealth.org/coronavirus/vaccine-information.
