Healthcare workers in Schuylkill County receive initial COVID vaccine | South Schuylkill News

Healthcare workers in Schuylkill County are receiving the first dose of coronavirus vaccine.

Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill began vaccination of health care workers on December 18. Approximately 250 vaccinations were given during the first two days of the process. Gaisinger St. Luke’s Hospital began on-site vaccination on December 23. Forty health care workers were vaccinated on the first day.

Dr. Mark Richner, Vice President of Healthcare and Intensive Doctor, at Gaisinger St. Luke’s Hospital, said: A group of St. Luke’s who first took it on December 18th. “Since then, I’m completely fine. I feel good.”

Thousands of healthcare professionals received their first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine throughout each healthcare system during the first two weeks of vaccination.

Dr. Jennifer Roberta of the Lehi Valley Doctors Group’s Lung and Critical Care Department said, “Except for the pain in the arm at the injection site, work as usual, just as you would feel when you were vaccinated against the flu. I’m doing it, “he explained her feelings. The day after she received the vaccine. “I feel very good to know that this is from the beginning to the end of the pandemic.”

“Real opportunity”

Lischner expressed similar feelings about what the arrival of the vaccine meant to healthcare professionals and the general public.

“Honestly, it makes me feel hope like never before.” “The virus seems to be on the rise. Now we have a real opportunity to rapidly reach herd immunity in the population, which will stop the spread of this virus.”

The vaccine developed by Pfizer and Moderna requires two doses. The second dose is given about 3-4 weeks after the first dose.

The health system follows the Department of State’s three-stage vaccine distribution plan. In a plan based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, healthcare professionals will be the first group to be vaccinated.

LVH-Schuylkill President William Lepy said in a statement, “We are providing vaccines to all employees based on a priority risk-based system, with front-line COVID-19 caregivers first vaccinated. I am inoculating. ”

Since receiving the first dose of the vaccine, Lischner has received messages from colleagues, friends and family asking for opinions about the vaccine. Two of the most common questions he asks are whether there were shortcuts to vaccine development and whether there are long-term side effects.

The answer to the first question is no. Lischner explained that the mRNA technology used to create the COVID-19 vaccine has been developed for over a decade, if not nearly 20 years. The developers were able to work quickly and move to a Phase 3 trial. This states that Lischner is the most important trial. He also said that the vaccine trial involved tens of thousands of people.

“This has been extensively tested very safely and very early on,” he said. “Safety data on this is as good as that obtained with such vaccines.”

Developing a vaccine during a pandemic also helped drive the process at a faster pace, as the group of people who could enroll in the trial at one time was much larger than in other cases where the number of specific people was small. Illness or illness.

Lischner said no serious side effects were reported during the study. At this time, only the side effects of regular vaccines have been reported. Long-term side effects are currently less well known, as the vaccine has not existed long enough to obtain that data.

“In my opinion, the risk of long-term effects on the vaccine is much lower than that of being infected with the virus,” Richener said. “When infected with COVID, we see many patients with long-term effects from COVID.

“What the vaccine does is that the vaccine makes the very small proteins that are present in the virus, but it is not infectious and does not cause the virus. The body builds an antibody and immune response to that protein. I will. “

“I think the long-term risk of a vaccine is significantly lower than the risk of being infected with COVID and being exposed to the long-term effects of COVID,” he said.

The general public is not set up to receive the vaccine until the third stage of distribution, but healthcare professionals recommend that everyone be vaccinated when the vaccine becomes available.

“I want to convey to the community the message that people really want to get this vaccine when it becomes available,” Richner said. “By getting this vaccine and blocking the virus, you are not only protecting yourself, but also your neighbors, your friends, your family, and your community. “

According to Richener, the vaccine is not only 95% effective in preventing COVID-19, but it is also practically effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness if the vaccinated person becomes ill. Is 100% effective. Studies show that vaccines prevent the disease from becoming more severe if someone becomes infected after vaccination.