Pfizer vaccine administered at Sharon Hospital
SHARON — Excitement and nervousness were two emotions Dr. Mark Hirko, president of Sharon and Putnam hospitals, said he and his staff experienced upon getting Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine Friday.
When he looks back on the day, Hirko, who is also a general and vascular surgeon, said he won’t soon forget the circumstances around which he took it — since he wasn’t planning to, quite yet.
“There was an extra dose within the vile at the very end, so we didn’t want to waste it. We called and called everybody that could come up, and there was no one left. I offered it to a whole bunch of other employees, and they said, ‘You go right ahead.’”
Hirko said he reluctantly went for it. “As the president, like a captain of a ship, you let everyone else have it first,” he said.
According to Hirko, Sharon Hospital staff has had mixed feelings about the vaccine, which he said is understandable.
“There’s a fear of the unknown. This is a new procedure. This is the first time in our generation something like this happened. You have a vaccine that has been developed in less than eight or nine months,” he said. “At the same time, you don’t know if it’s going to work. Are you going to be one of the people that’s going to have a severe reaction or not? You just don’t know.”
However, he said, overall, everyone was excited and grateful to be given the opportunity to get vaccinated.
“There was quiet re
solve, that OK, this is the next step,” he said. “We’re finally getting to the end.”
Two doses of the vaccine need to be administered, so once someone receives the first dose, they are still not immune to the virus.
“They need to receive a second dose before the body builds enough antibodies,” Hirko said.
The second dose will be offered over the next few weeks, depending upon
which vaccine is administered — for Pfizer, it’s 21 days from the first injection; for Moderna, it’s
28 days, according to Hirko. Wearing masks and social distancing, therefore, must be continued.
As of Tuesday, about
100 Sharon Hospital workers had received the vaccine. While it’s not mandatory, Hirko said he strongly encourages all health care workers to take it, not just doctors and nurses.
He said all Sharon’s nearly 400 employees — everyone from cafeteria workers to the janitor to social workers — are front line workers.
“You are constantly in some sort of form of exposure,” he said.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Sharon Hospital has treated dozens of COVID patients, according to Hirko.
“Because of the size of our hospital, anybody who is seriously ill or requires extensive care, we move to our (seven) sister hospitals, who have very large ICUs,” he said. “In return, we take convalescent COVID patients or less seriously ill COVID patients.”
It’s sister hospitals, which fall under the umbrella of Nuvance Health, include Danbury Hospital, New Milford Hospital and Norwalk Hospital.
Despite all the uncertainties regarding the vaccine, however, Hirko said Sharon Hospital staff has expressed another emotion upon receiving it: Relief.
“They are relieved that we are getting somewhere,” Hirko said. “They know this isn’t the end game yet but at the same time, it was good to see everybody taking the leap forward to move on and trust that this could help us.”sfox@milfordmirror.com