CHI St. Vincent begins immunizing front-line workers
As one of 18 large hospitals with the highest volume of COVID-19 cases statewide, CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs received a shipment of 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday and began administering it to its front-line workers, according to hospital and state officials.
“We’re excited to have received our shipment today,” CHI St. Vincent President Dr. Doug Ross said on Wednesday. “We view this vaccine as one more tool to help keep our people safe so we can continue to meet the health care needs of this community.”
CHI St. Vincent said in a statement that, “given that this first supply of vaccine is limited, we will follow (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Arkansas Department of Health guidelines to focus on those individuals at significant personal risk due to age or other factors, and significant exposure risk due to their job and location within the health care setting.”
According to a notice posted online by the Arkansas Department of Health, the COVID-19 vaccination program will require a phased approach.
“In Phase 1 limited doses will be available and focus will be on vaccinating high priority groups,” it said. “In Phase 2 a large number of doses will be available allowing the general population to be vaccinated. In
Phase 3 enough doses will be available for all persons needing vaccination and there will be a shift to providing COVID-19 as a routine vaccination.”
Phase one includes 18 large hospitals statewide with the highest volume of COVID-19 patients.
“CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs is one of the 18 large hospitals that received vaccine,” Danyelle McNeill, ADH public information officer, said Thursday.
There are no definite dates for when the phases will transition or begin, according to ADH.
CHI’s statement said it “expects to receive more doses of the vaccine every week, so the number of people who can receive the vaccine will increase over time.”
Ross said while they have not been given a specific date for future vaccine allocations to the facility, they are certain they will receive at least another 975 doses within the next 21 days that will need to be given to the first recipients to complete their required second round of immunizations.
“Because we got the Pfizer vaccine and it is a two-dose regimen over 21 — one dose, and then another dose 21 days later,” Ross said. “So we do know we will get another 975 dosages to complete the second round of immunizations of our people. But additional dosages on top of that, we have not been given any information.”
Front-line workers who work closest with COVID-19 patients will be the first to receive the vaccination, but on a “staggered” schedule in case of adverse side effects, he said.
“The side effects profile of the vaccine is very good,” Ross said. “The side effects are mild, but we are taking precautions in our immunization schedule where we’re actually staggering our co-workers so that if any co-workers do have some side effects, potentially making them out of work for a day we’ve staggered the schedule so that will not impact our ability to care for our patients.
“We are going to track those co-workers who we have given the vaccine and follow back up with them and see how they’re feeling, but I very much anticipate that they’ll have mild reactions or no side effects at all. We sometimes see people have sore arms or body aches or even a low-grade fever, even after the flu vaccine, but again generally those side effects with the flu vaccine and the coronavirus vaccine last only 12-24 hours.”
The statement said that while they are encouraged by the initial availability of the vaccine, “we all must remain vigilant and follow CDC guidelines — including wearing a mask and social distancing — to stop the spread of COVID-19.”