Local first responders receive COVID vaccine
TEXARKANA, Texas — First responders from both sides of the state line began getting vaccinated against the coronavirus Wednesday at CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System.
Texarkana Arkansas Fire Department Chief David Fletcher was among the firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical technicians to be inoculated with the vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which was the first authorized for emergency use by the Food and
Drug Administration.
Because enough front-line health care workers have gotten their shots since the vaccine arrived in Texarkana last Thursday, St. Michael was able to move down the state-developed priority list to first responders, a spokesperson said.
TAFD has suspended most
non-emergency services such as safety inspections and pubic education because of the pandemic, but Fletcher is hopeful the department will be able to resume those activities soon.
“The vaccine’s a big part of that. We can get back to doing a lot of what we do. … I can see within a month having most of the department vaccinated,” he said.
Vaccination is optional for TAFD employees.
Dr. Loren Robinson, St. Michael’s vice president for medical affairs, said it is important to make the vaccine available for Arkansas-side first responders.
“It was silly to me that we would only do Bowie County. We’re located in Texas, but it’s so awesome that we can reach out to our friends across the state line and make sure that our front-line workers are protected across our city and our area. … We want to make sure people who are touching lives are protected,” she said.
After today’s vaccine clinic, St. Michael will break from giving vaccinations a few days for Christmas, then resume next week.
Shipments of another vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company Moderna and authorized for emergency use Friday, are due to arrive locally within a few days.
St. Michael’s doses of that vaccine will go to health care workers at the CHRISTUS system hospital in Atlanta, Texas, as well as the system’s primary care clinic and two pharmacies in Texarkana.
Next in line are high-risk patients, Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Department of State Health Services have decided.
“People think high-risk are very, very sick people, but it’s also we’re trying to keep people from getting very sick. So some folks who have underlying conditions — so things like diabetes, people with COPD. … They anticipate that will start within the next few weeks,” Robinson said.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines. The traditional approach to vaccination is to inject a weakened or inactivated germ into the body to trigger an immune response to that germ. But mRNA vaccines cause a person’s cells to create proteins found on a virus, which then “teach” the immune system to recognize and fight off infection.
“COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the ‘spike protein.’ The spike protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19.
“At the end of the process, our bodies have learned how to protect against future infection. The benefit of mRNA vaccines, like all vaccines, is those vaccinated gain this protection without ever having to risk the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website.