by Charlotte Smith
Tuesday morning Bladen County Hospital received their first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccines. According to Stephen Fife with the local hospital, there were 975 vials of the medication delivered by UPS. The first vaccine shipment is from Pfizer because it was the first manufacturer to receive FDA approval for emergency use.
Healthcare workers are the first in line to receive the vaccine. Bladen County Hospital has about 300 employees.
Fife said, “We are not making it mandatory, but we are highly encouraging all healthcare workers to get vaccinated.”
He explained the hospital has a plan in place to administer the vaccine that will start tomorrow.
“We are excited we were one of the first 11 hospitals to receive it,” Fife stated. Then he explained, the vaccines require cold chain storage and handling. The vials need to be refrigerated, but may last up to six months with proper storage.
According to Fife, about three weeks ago Bladen County Hospital received a ultra low commercial grade freezer to store the vaccines in.
More vaccines are expected to be delivered to the hospital weekly.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Plan states, “Limited COVID-19 vaccine doses may be available during the fourth quarter of calendar year 2020, but this supply will increase substantially in 2021.”
The COVID-19 vaccine requires two doses, 21-days apart from each other.
“We are making sure folks are getting the second dose,” Fife said.
The effective rate of the two-dose vaccine is up to 95% according to officials, however at this time Pfizer has not released a vaccine protection time frame.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) explains, “None of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in development in the United States use the live virus that causes COVID-19. It typically takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity after vaccination. That means it’s possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and get sick. This is because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection.”
In addition, if your body develops an immune response, which is the goal of vaccination, there is a possibility you may test positive on some antibody tests, according to the CDC. A complete list of side-effects is not known.
The general public can not get the vaccine at this time or go to the hospital. Yesterday the hospital announced all Cape Fear Valley Health System locations, including hospitals and outpatient clinics, will be closed completely to visitors until further notice except for a few exceptions.
Fife said, “The restrictions are to protect the staff and patients from risk of COVID-19.”
He added, “We are currently at capacity except for a couple of beds we have open for the ED.”
Bladen County Hospital is located at 501 S. Poplar Street in Elizabethtown.
Related article:
https://bladencounty.org/the-awaited-covid-19-vaccine-will-be-arriving-tuesday-morning-to-cape-fear-valley-health/
About Author
