The first COVID-19 vaccine given in Wyoming marks a pandemic “turning point” | Coronavirus

The first dose of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccine to be given in Cheyenne-Wyoming will be given to a small number of medical staff in Laramie County on Tuesday and the start of a distribution program that may take months to complete. Was shown.

The first vaccine was given to a small number of staff at the Cheyenne Laramie County Health Department on Tuesday morning.

Terry Thane, a registered nurse in the department, was vaccinated first after learning the day before vaccination.

“I’m a maternal and child health nurse and have been here for a year, so most of my time is spent on COVID contact tracing and testing, and I can’t concentrate on my actual work. So I’m excited about things getting back to normal, “said Sain after receiving the vaccine. “As soon as it became available, I was ready to take it.”

Although it may take a few more months for the vaccine to become widely available to the public, Tyne recommended that everyone be vaccinated if possible. The vaccine had to be given twice every 21 days and I received a card recording the first dose on Tuesday.

Tyne was vaccinated by one of the five staff of the County Health Department, and several nurses and doctors at the Cheyenne Community Medical Center were vaccinated the same afternoon.

In total, Laramie County received the state’s first supply of 975 doses.

Kim Detty, a spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Health, who was at hand for vaccination, emphasized that the vaccine would go to the priority population first, but said state health officials were excited about the development. It was.

“We are excited and I think this is a positive step, but the amount of vaccine available will be low for some time, so we have set up a priority group,” Detty said. Told. “Our first priority group is primarily healthcare professionals and caregivers … at this point it’s hard to predict exactly who will start getting what (and) when.”

The vaccine given on Tuesday came from pharmaceutical company Pfizer after its version was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration last week. When another vaccine from pharmaceutical company Moderna gained federal approval in a few days, Deti said he expected the state to be approved “on the weekend.”

“It will really open up a few things, but that’s not a guarantee,” Detty said of the Moderna vaccine. “There was an estimate of when (and) to receive both of these vaccines, but again, these are estimates.”

Next week, the vaccine will be delivered to more healthcare professionals and first-time emergency responders in Laramie County.

Cathy Emmons, secretary general of the Cheyenne Laramie County Health Department, said these priority groups would receive the vaccine in the county health department building, which has a sub-zero freezer needed to store Pfizer vaccines.

“Logistically, it’s much more difficult and much more difficult than other vaccines,” Emmons said. “I hope in the future we will be able to do some more large clinics, just as we do on test sites.”

According to Emmons, Laramie County will receive an additional shipment of vaccines early next week and another vaccine will be shipped the following week.

“We will change that as soon as possible and push the vaccine into the community,” she added.

Many of the details of the distribution plan depend on a nationally implemented process, but Tuesday’s first vaccination is a “historic moment” for the Cheyenne community, who reported the first positive cases in mid-March. Said Emmons.

“It was a long nine months,” Emmons said. “We are very excited to be at this point because this is a turning point in the community. Now we have something to tackle. I think it’s a COVID issue. General And we didn’t have the peace of mind we were looking forward to, so we don’t know when it’s getting better. “

“This is the point where we have something to go and some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.”

Later on Tuesday, five CRMC healthcare professionals (including two nurses, two doctors and a respiratory therapist) received the vaccine and became the first vaccinated hospital worker in the state. It was.

Among them was Dr. Hoo Feng Choo, a hospital infectious disease specialist. He called this moment the “milestone” of the COVID-19 pandemic. Confident in the safety of the vaccine, Choo explained that getting the vaccine is like sending the body a recipe to fight the virus via messenger RNA.

“It just tells our bodies,’Oh, we need to boost our immunity to this foreign protein to help fight the infection,'” Chu said.

Choo, who will be vaccinated for the second time within three weeks, said he would continue to follow all ongoing protocols to reduce the risk of the virus spreading.

“I’m vaccinated today, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be less vigilant,” Chu said. “Vaccines prevent illness, not infection, so I continue to wear social distance, hygiene, and masks. Asymptomatic transmission can still occur.”

CRMC officials said they plan to give hospital staff 300 additional vaccines starting this Wednesday.

For those vaccinated on Tuesday, there was a sense of security not only for themselves but also for their families. Judy Jasper’s, CRMC’s repertoire therapist, said her husband is at high risk of developing complications from COVID-19.

“I don’t want to bring this back to him,” Jasper’s said.

Jasper recommended that all residents of Wyoming be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine, adding that it was “easy” for her. As a respiratory therapist working in the intensive care unit of a COVID-19 patient for months, she said it was “painful” to see the patient go for weeks without seeing her family.

With one vaccine already in Wyoming and another vaccine likely to emerge soon, her hope was that the latest developments would soon bring some normality to the hospital and herself.

“I want to regain my life,” said Jasper’s. “I want to do what I was doing a year ago.”