Finally fighting back with vaccine
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center employees get Moderna shots
COVID,” Boston Holding Neighborhood doctors signs that and said nurses Health “Take at Center East that were Moderna’s the first coronavirus in Massachusetts vaccine to get on Monday, an area of the city impacted greatly by the pandemic.
“I’ve watched the community get hit very hard by the COVID pandemic, and this is our hope, this is our great hope to end this pandemic and get back to real life and back to normal, back to caring for our patients,” said EBNHC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jackie Fantes, as she fought back tears.
“I cannot wait to protect my staff, I’ve been worried about them every single day,” said Fantes.
Fantes was third behind Dr. Jaime Gallegos Salazar, infection control specialist, and nurse Karina Mendoza to get the Moderna vaccine on Monday shortly after a shipment of 200 doses arrived at the health cen-ter
Mendoza said, “It’s been a long fight but now that we have the vaccine it’s a great feeling.”
Gallegos Salazar, the first to be vaccinated, hailed it as a “great milestone” and said that Moderna’s vaccine, ultra which cold storage doesn’t required need the of same the Pfizer vaccine, will be more accessible for rural communities.
“It’s going to be more reachable, this technology, for many of these areas,” said Gallegos Salazar.
Ten EBNHC staff members were vaccinated Monday and health center officials said at least 200 out of a total 1,200 doses had been delivered. First, 800 COVID-facing staff will be vaccinated followed by routine health care workers and office staff.
The Moderna doses arrive as coronavirus cases and deaths surge to record-breaking levels in Massachusetts and across the country.
Morgan Brister, a South End Community Health Center nurse who
was vaccinated Monday said, “I think there is a lot of hope, but we have to stay cautious. This is not over, it’s not really even close over for now.”
The health center does not yet have doses of the Pfizer vaccine, but is expecting them soon. There are 10 doses within every Moderna vial and five to six doses in the Pfizer vials.
Manny Lopes, CEO of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, said they are prepared to store both vaccines and recognized the “miracle” of arriving at this historic moment.
“This community has been significantly impacted, the positivity rate is much higher than the rest of the
state as well as the city so for us to receive it first means a lot to us and our staff,” said Lopes.
Staff and patients at Brockton VA Medical Center were also vaccinated with Moderna doses on Monday.
Gov. Charlie Baker said in a press conference Monday that more doses of both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines will be arriving “practically every day.”
“I think over 100,000 Moderna vaccine doses, first doses, are arriving sometime in the next day or two and are being distributed to about 240 different health care sites around the commonwealth,” said Baker.