Gritman Medical Center began administering its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to staff today after weeks of close coordination with regional and state public health officials.
A registered nurse in Gritman’s Critical Care and Medical-Surgical Unit, Nina Benichou, received the first dose. Benichou has been an employee of Gritman for eight years.
In the first phase of distribution, Gritman received a total of 350 doses of the vaccine. Those doses will be administered to staff over the next few days, according to Peter Mundt, Gritman director of community relations and marketing.
“We anticipate more of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines will be coming from public health,” Mundt said. “We also anticipate the Moderna vaccine will begin arriving in the next several days.”
Doses for the first phase were apportioned between Idaho’s seven public health districts based on population and are limited to critical medical personnel, first responders and others responsible for emergency and medical care. Although details are still being worked out, officials expect widespread availability by the middle of next year.
In both vaccines, two doses are required for maximum effectiveness. According to the Associated Press, Pfizer-BioNTech’s second dose should be taken three weeks after the first. Moderna’s is four weeks apart.
The vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are mRNA vaccines, meaning they don’t contain full versions of the live virus. They only contain one part of the virus, designed to prompt an early immune response to build protective antibodies.
Some typical vaccine side effects, such as mild fever or fatigue, are expected. Federal health officials hope to collect detailed data on side effects to spot any potential adverse reactions from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which showed over 90% effectiveness in clinical trials.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, everyone in the Gritman family, both here in the hospital and in our network of primary care clinics, have been true heroes in the fight to protect our patients and community from COVID-19,” Mundt said.
Gritman recommends following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit the spread of COVID-19, including wearing a facemask, washing and sanitizing your hands frequently and keeping a distance of at least 6 feet from those not in your immediate household.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @apalermotweets.
Audrey
This is awesome! I hope those who work in the COVID testing lab at our university receive vaccination soon, too