Memorial Hospital where most of the early COVID vaccines are shipped to El Paso County | Colorado Springs News

Colorado Springs hospitals have been vaccinated about 6,000 times with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine after the FDA granted an emergency license on Friday night, and within a few days many local front-line healthcare professionals. You will be able to do it.

The vaccine could arrive in the state as early as Sunday, state health officials said this week. But Colorado, who are not front-line workers or are at high risk for a potentially deadly virus, will not be able to receive the vaccine until this summer.

According to data released by the state on Friday, UC Health Memorial Hospital Central will receive 3,900 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, which was first assigned in Colorado. This is the largest shipment ever planned in El Paso County.

The 4050 Briargate Parkway, the Memorial North Hospital, was not vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine on its first shipment, but will be vaccinated with 800 Moderna vaccines in a week or two. The hospital at 1400 East Boulder Street will be vaccinated with 4,100 doses of Moderna vaccine.

Penrose-St. Francis Health Service received 1,950 doses on Pfizer’s first shipment, with 1,100 doses of Moderna arriving shortly thereafter.

Both hospital systems said the first shipment will be used to vaccinate the highest-risk health care workers, COVID patients and those working in the emergency room, as the state recommends. .. In Phase 1, front-line healthcare professionals, as well as care facility staff and residents, seek vaccinations first, followed by healthcare professionals with less direct contact with COVID patients. Home care, hospice and dentistry workers. First responders, including first aid, firefighters, police and corrective workers.

UC Health Memorial spokeswoman Cary Vogrin said on Friday, “If we receive additional supplies, we will also provide vaccinations to health care workers in other areas, including outpatient clinics.” “Our distribution is based on healthcare professionals’ proximity to COVID-19 patients, not employment status or job title.”

She added that other staff working at the COVID unit may be vaccinated at the same time as their colleagues “as supplies allow”.

The first shipment of Penrose St. Francis should cover the first of two doses of the “majority, if not all,” of healthcare professionals at the highest risk of COVID. Dr. Bill Prout, Chief Medical Officer of Penrose St. Francis Health Services, said on Friday.

With the advent of the Modana vaccine, it will be possible to vaccinate low-risk health care workers, Prout added.

The El Paso County Public Health Service will not receive Pfizer’s initial shipment quota, but will be vaccinated with Moderna’s vaccine 300 times. A spokeswoman said the ministry was looking for “the most effective way to take advantage of this very limited amount of vaccine.”

A spokeswoman said Friday that the vaccine would also be given at the Colorado Springs site in the Colorado Children’s Hospital, but the number was not immediately known.

Colorado Springs hospitals and about 150 other medical facilities in the state use shipments to inoculate front-line workers and distribute vaccines to nearby medical facilities. Selected by the State Department of Health, according to state officials, because of the -60 to -80 degrees Celsius ultra-low temperature freezer required to store the vaccine and the willingness to redistribute the vaccine to other providers in the region. .. ..

According to the New York Times, the FDA may allow an emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine one day earlier than expected on Friday evening.

The first vaccination of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in Colorado as early as Sunday, and many frontline workers need to be vaccinated by the end of February, state officials said Wednesday. After FDA approval, the first shipment of Pfizer vaccine (46,800 doses, the maximum amount the state has allowed to order) is expected within 24 hours.

Approximately a week later, officials added that the state will be vaccinated with the maximum amount of 95,600 Moderna vaccines currently allowed.

Colorado’s population accounts for 1.69% of the United States, and the state is expected to receive the same percentage of available vaccines each week, the governor’s office said Wednesday.

Both vaccines need to be given twice. 21 days for Pfizer and 28 days for Moderna. Pfizer says the vaccine is 95% effective. Moderna reports that the vaccine is almost 95% effective. Both are more effective than the flu vaccine, according to state health officials.

Recipients of the Phase 1 vaccine are expected to receive it by February, officials said.

Phase 2 distribution — Elderly people, healthy people, public workers, people working in high-density environments, other healthcare workers not covered in Phase 1, and placebo given during the COVID vaccine trial Adults — are expected to be vaccinated by spring.

Officials said the remaining population, members of the general public aged 18-64 without high-risk conditions, is expected to be able to fire in the summer.

Currently, children are not eligible for a vaccine approved for children over the age of 18.

The state will release information on Phase 2 and Phase 3 distributions at a later date. If you believe you are eligible for the Phase 1 vaccine, please call the 1-877-462-2911 hotline or visit the following website: covid19.colorado.gov/vaccine..