After CUMC-Bergan Mercy received their first shipment on Monday, another metro hospital is gearing up to get their first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.
Nebraska Medicine expects their first shipment of the vaccine in the next couple of days, something health leaders at the hospital say marks the beginning of the end for its front line workers.
Nebraska Medicine's Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Dr. Mark Rupp, tells WOWT 6 News that roughly a thousand front line staff will start getting their vaccinations Thursday. “We’re going to lineup up clinics here every other day or so going forward into the holidays and we’ll be making sure we give this vaccine as quickly as we can."
Rupp says everything has been a long time in the making. “Don’t get the idea that this is just a walk in the park. This is a big deal.” Every detail carefully thought through; from the ultra-cold freezers to store the Pfizer vaccine, to who will get it first. “Providers who are in the emergency department, who are in our urgent situations, our trauma team for instance, where they’re really seeing a lot of patients prior to being able to define whether they have COVID,” said Dr. Rupp. “We feel like these are the people at the highest risk.”
Also at the front of the line to receive the vaccine at Nebraska Med are those working the COVID-19 ICUs. “Providers who are giving direct care to our covid positive patients within our covid units, so they’re right in the same echelon of getting vaccinated very, very quickly,” said Dr. Rupp, noting they’ll each get their first shot, trusting the second shipment will arrive in time for that critical second vaccination three weeks later. “So we’re not holding back any vaccine, meaning everybody’s just going to get their first shot and we’re going to exhaust that first supply.”
A portion of Nebraska Medicine’s shipment is also going to first responders working closely with them.
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