“Healing is coming”: U.S. healthcare workers start vaccination

Healthcare workers across the country rolled up their sleeves for the first COVID-19 shot on Monday. It hopes that a full vaccination can defeat the coronavirus, which has been devastated by the tragic reality of the deaths of 300,000 people in the United States.

After being first vaccinated at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay declared “relieved.” “I feel like healing is coming.”

With a “3-2-1” countdown, workers at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center gave their first injection in applause.

In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis personally opened the door to delivery to FedEx drivers and signed a package containing 975 precious frozen vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. ..

Shot has begun what will be the greatest vaccination effort in US history. And it was finally able to conquer the outbreak.

Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor, who has been working in the COVID-19 unit at the University of Louisville Hospital since March and recently lost his 27th patient to the virus, was one of the first recipients.

“I want to go back to see my family,” she said. “I want to be able to meet the people my family loves.”

Approximately 145 sites nationwide, from Rhode Island to Alaska, have received shipments, with more deliveries expected in the coming days. High-risk healthcare professionals lined up first.

“This is 20,000 hopes,” said John Coolis, president and chief executive officer of Tampa General Hospital, about his first childbirth.

Nursing home residents were also prioritized, and the Veterans Medical Center in Bedford, Massachusetts announced on Twitter that the first dose was given to World War II 96-year-old veterans Margaret Crescents. Other nursing homes across the United States are expecting vaccination in the coming days.

According to counts held by Johns Hopkins University, the campaign began on the same day that the US death toll from the surge outbreak exceeded the 300,000 threshold. The death toll is comparable to the population of St. Louis and Pittsburgh. More than five times the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War. This is equivalent to a 9.11 attack daily for over 100 days.

“When you think about it, you can now absorb 3,000 deaths a day in our country, as if it were a business as usual. It simply represents a moral failure. “More,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins.

Health experts know that vigilant people are seeing vaccination campaigns, especially the color communities that have been hit hard by pandemics, but racial health inequalities and research abuse against blacks. Because of heritage, I have doubts about vaccines.

Dr. Leonardo Soan, Chief Academic Officer at Oxner Health in the suburbs of New Orleans, said it was a “privilege” to be vaccinated after being vaccinated. Seoane, a Cuban-American, said, “I urged all my Hispanic brothers and sisters to do that. It’s okay.”

The approximately 3 million doses currently shipped are just the down payment required. More Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arrive weekly. And later this week, the FDA will decide whether to shed light on the world’s second most rigorously studied COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Moderna Inc.

The United States wants to use both vaccines together to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the month and another 30 million in January, but the average person prevents until spring. Not enough to get vaccinated.

For now, the hurdle is the rapid introduction of vaccines to the arms of millions of people, not just doctors and nurses, but also other health care workers at risk, such as caretakers and food handlers. , 3 weeks later, give a second vaccination.

Sumashni, Chief Pharmacy Officer for Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, said: “We are in the midst of a surge and it’s a holiday.

In addition, shots activate people’s immune system, which can cause temporary fever, malaise, and pain, forcing hospitals to stagger employee vaccinations.

Associated Press-A recent poll by the NORC Public Health Research Center says that only half of Americans want to be vaccinated, but about a quarter are not and the rest are uncertain. ..

Helen Cordova, an intensive care unit nurse who received the vaccination card after being vaccinated at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, said, “I think it will be a big hurdle to convince people because it’s new. “This may be encouraging for others.”

Recognized as the strictest medical regulator in the world, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was developed at an alarming rate less than a year after the virus was identified, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is safe and strongly protected. It seems, authorities said they released the data all day long. Last week, a meeting for scientists and consumers to meet in the same way.

“We know it works,” said Dr. Catherine Baumgarten, an Oxner infection expert who took her shot on the first day. “Do so as soon as you can get it.”

Nevertheless, the vaccine was approved for emergency use before the final study of nearly 44,000 people was completed. The study continues to try to answer additional questions.

For example, vaccines are effective in preventing the disease of COVID-19, but it is not clear whether it can stop the asymptomatic spread, which accounts for half of all cases.

Shots still need to be studied during pregnancy with the child. However, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology said on Sunday that vaccinations from pregnant women who would otherwise qualify should not be withheld.

UK regulators are also investigating several severe allergic reactions. The FDA has instructed providers not to vaccinate anyone with a history of severe allergic reactions to any of its ingredients.

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Associated Press writers Marion Renault, Andrew Welsh Huggins, Rebecca Santana, Dylan Rovan, Tamara Rush, Jeff Turner and Kathy Young contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’s Department of Health Sciences is supported by the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.