975 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arrive
The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Humboldt County.
Humboldt County Public Health received 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Monday morning, according to a news release. Public Health is working with health care providers to distribute the first doses to the most at-risk health care workers and nursing home residents over the coming days.
“We are very excited to have received the first batch of Humboldt County’s vaccines this morning at St. Joseph Hospital,” said Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman. “As we know, there are not nearly enough doses to go around. We will be following state guidance and vaccinating the highest risk people first, which includes all hospital staff, emergency medical services and long-term care facility residents and staff.”
The vaccines will be stored at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka because the hospital bought an ultra-low temperature freezer needed to hold the Pfizer vaccines.
“We’ve got that cooler on- site, and we’re housing it for the county,” Dr. Travis Sewalls, chief medical officer for St. Joseph Health, told the Times-Standard.
St. Joseph Health expects to start getting vaccines to its frontline health care workers by next Monday, Dec. 21, or possibly sooner, Sewalls said.
Health care workers’ risk levels are currently being assessed to prioritize which workers should be first in line to get the vaccine, Sewalls said.
St. Joseph Health put in its request for 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which is set to receive emergency use authorization on Thursday, Sewalls said. Though there isn’t an estimated time of arrival for those vaccines, Sewalls said it
should move fairly quickly like the Pfizer process.
Pfizer got the emergency use authorization on Dec. 10, Sewalls said, “and on the 14th we have it in-hand.”
The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses to be effective, and the second dose should be administered three weeks after the first, according to the Public Health news release.
Public Health is anticipating the second Pfizer vaccine shipment as early as next week and the Moderna vaccine shortly afterward, the release states.
“This is an important first step towards getting COVID-19 under control,” Dr. Roberta Luskin-Hawk, chief executive of St. Joseph Health in Humboldt County, said in a statement.
“We are excited to partner with the county and store the Pfizer vaccine for Humboldt County. We look forward to offering the vaccine initially to the highest risk members of our health care team who have stepped up to care for our community during this pandemic.
We will continue to offer the vaccine in accordance with guidance from public health officials.”
More information can be found at humboldtgov. org/2872/ Vaccine-Info.