Marin nursing home workers relieved as vaccinations start
Senior centers have been most vulnerable virus site
Maria Cortez waited in line early Thursday morning in the chilly air outside The Tamalpais senior living center in Greenbrae to become one of the first nursing home workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus in Marin.
Cortez, who is a nursing assistant at the center, has spent the past nine months wearing safety gear at work, getting frequent coronavirus tests and limiting her exposure to others. But despite all the precautions, she worries constantly about catching the virus and passing it on to the patients she works with, or to her three children at home.
“It’s really stressful,” she said. “I was so excited to get the vaccine.”
Marin County health officials arrived at The Tamalpais just after 7 a.m. Thursday with dozens of doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, which were part of the first batch that arrived in the county Wednes
day morning. When they left four hours later, more than half of the center’s 191 employees had been inoculated.
Nursing home workers are among the first to be offered the vaccine in Marin. By the end of the weekend, health officials plan to administer vaccinations to workers at each of Marin’s 13 skilled nursing centers.
“That’s where we’ve had so many outbreaks,” said Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer. “It’s such a vulnerable setting.”
More than 80% of the people who have died of the virus in Marin lived in senior centers, including skilled nursing and longterm care sites, according to county data. In most cases, outbreaks at those centers began with an infected staff member, Willis said.
Because the initial supply of the vaccine is limited, giving the first doses to the staff is a strategic
way to protect the seniors who live in nursing homes against the virus, said Ashley McCargar, infection prevention specialist at The Tamalpais.
“We still have a long road ahead of us to be back to normal,” McCargar said. “But this is a really big step to getting us closer.”
For some of the nurses who waited in line Thursday
morning, seeing their coworkers get vaccinated was “emotionally moving,” said Heidi Rieser, the center’s nurse manager.
“We had a lot of people in tears,” Rieser said. “We’ve worked so hard to keep our community safe.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 21 workers and two residents at the center have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Wesley Bard, the executive director.
Over the coming weeks, vaccinations will be offered to the staff members who didn’t get them on Thursday because of time constraints, Bard said. After that, they will be given to the center’s 293 residents in stages.
Residents who live in the center’s skilled nursing department will go first, followed by those in assisted living, according to Bard. The seniors in the center’s independent living area will likely get vaccinated early next year, he said. Everyone at the center who gets the Pfizer vaccine will be given a second dose after the recommended 21 days, he said.
“It’s like this big burden off your shoulders,” Bard said.
For Stewart Dalie, who is the center’s environmental services director, getting an initial dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday represented an unexpected victory as he awaits a double organ transplant.
Dalie, who has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, chronic kidney disease and end- stage renal disease, said he is grateful to be one step closer to potential immunity from the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, Dalie was notified by his doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, that his 18-month wait for a kidney and pancreas transplant is nearing an end.
“Having the COVID vaccination while I’m getting ready for this transplant gives me an added layer of security,” he said.
In addition to health care workers and residents at senior centers, the first coronavirus vaccinations in Marin will be also offered to first responders.
During the second phase of the vaccine rollout, injections will be given to essential workers, seniors and people with medical conditions that put them at higher risk for coronavirus complications.
Vaccinations will be offered to the general public during phase three, which health officials said is likely to run from March through June.