Oroville Hospital giving COVID vaccines to staff
OROVILLE » Oroville Hospital has been approved by the California Department of Public Health as a COVID-19 vaccine provider and received its first shipment of vaccines on Monday.
“We started giving them (the vaccine) on Monday to any staff that has exposure to patients. We are glad to be able to get our staff vaccinated. I got my vaccine yesterday,” said Shanna Roelofson, Oroville Hospital communications director.
Enloe Medical Center received its first round of vaccines, 2,925 Pfizer and 2,000 Moderna, on Thursday and vaccinated two frontline workers the same day. The hospital did a “soft rollout” of its onsite staff vaccination clinic Thursday and Friday “just to make certain our system was in place and processes were efficient for the rollout on Monday,” said Joe Page, Enloe’s marketing and communications manager.
No vaccines were administered over the weekend.
The first staff at Enloe to receive vaccines are those who “consistently care for COVID-positive patients” such as critical care unit nurses and emergency room doctors. The second group slated for vaccines are those who “periodically” care for COVID-positive patients. The third group will include all remaining “employee groups,” according to Page.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, Enloe had administered 802 vaccines.
“We wish the vaccine clinics were as simple as flu shot clinics with one shot and you’re on your way, but it’s not that way. It takes a little longer,” said Page.
Employees must schedule appointments for their vaccine so that social distancing guidelines may be followed. Once a vaccine has been administered the recipient is monitored for 15 minutes to ensure there is no immediate adverse reaction to the vaccine.
Orchard Hospital’s application is still under review by the CDPH but, “there is no reason to believe it won’t be approved very soon,” said Danette York, Butte County Public Health director.
Once approved the Gridley- based Orchard Hospital’s vaccines will be shipped to Enloe for storage and administration.
“We’ve been working with them (Orchard) to receive and store their allocated doses and working to coordinate vaccinating their staff in our clinic. We have a strong collaboration with Orchard and are prepared to receive and administer their vaccines,” said Page.
Initially, vaccine supply will be low and a limited number of health care providers will be invited to receive the vaccine.
BCPH will continue to facilitate vaccine allocation and distribution from the state to local health care providers by following a phased and prioritized approach set forth by the CDPH.
The county is currently in Tier 1 of Phase 1a which includes vaccines for acute care, psychiatric and correctional facility hospitals; skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and similar settings for older or medically vulnerable individuals; paramedics, EMTs and others providing emergency medical services and dialysis centers.
Currently there are no long-term care, assisted living or skilled nursing facilities in Butte County receiving or administering the vaccine. EMTs and other emergency medical service providers will receive vaccines through Enloe or Oroville hospitals.
“If you have not been contacted directly by BCPH either for your staff to receive vaccination or to register with CDPH as a vaccine provider, then your office has not been identified in the current phase of distribution,” said York.
The county’s COVID-19 vaccine page will be routinely updated as new information is available, and once the vaccine supply is sufficient, a provider’s webpage will post vaccine provider registration information at www.buttecounty. net/ph/COVID19/vaccine.