By TAYLOR BROWN
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With more than 10,000 additional cases of COVID-19 reported Wednesday, a light at the end of the tunnel can finally be seen in the Mon Valley.
Carol Soltes, a staff member in the operating room of Monongahela Valley Hospital, was the first to receive one of the hospitals 975 doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in Washington County on Wednesday.
Soltes rolled up her sleeve to receive the injection just after 7 a.m.
MVH was one of two hospitals, including UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, to receive the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine earlier this week.
Each hospital received 975 doses.
Soltes said she received the vaccine to do her part.
“I’m getting the vaccine to help keep our patients and my co-workers and family safer,” Soltes said.
She is the first of many employees who will be offered the vaccine, which will be administered in two doses approximately 21 days apart.
It is 50% effective after the first dose and 95% effective after the second dose.
Sherry Watkins, senior vice president of nursing, said it is important to ensure healthcare workers are safe.
“It is wonderful that we have the ability to provide this vaccine to staff,” Watkins said. “It is important for us to protect ourselves so we are here every day to care for our community.”
So far, 16 hospitals have received the vaccine to administer to healthcare workers.
UPMC Presbyterian received 1,950 doses Tuesday and UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh received its shipment of 975 doses Wednesday.
Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said deliveries will be made each day until all 97,000 doses are delivered to 87 healthcare facilities throughout the Commonwealth.
“Each day, hospitals will be shipped vaccine directly from Pfizer and will begin administering it to health care workers at the hospital,” Levine said. “The 87 hospitals receiving shipments this week enrolled to be COVID-19 vaccine providers.”
The federal government determines the amount of vaccine and when the vaccine is distributed and will require hospitals to be able to handle the ultra-low temperature storage requirements.
The Pfizer vaccine, which received Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration Dec. 11, will be available in three phases.
While it will be months before Pfizer’s vaccine is widely available for everyone at drugstores or doctors’ offices, the first phase of distribution will continue to be directed to healthcare workers on the front lines.
“These first doses of vaccine are being given specifically to health care workers through hospitals,” Levine said. “Hospitals are making arrangements to implement these vaccinations, not only to their own front line staff but to other high-priority recipients. The number of people we can immunize truly depends on how quickly the manufacturers can make the vaccine.”
The first phase of vaccination is expected to take several months.
In the second phase, more doses will be made available to essential workers who are not able to work remotely.
Officials expect widespread availability, the third phase of administration, to be available by the middle of next year.
A second coronavirus vaccine is being reviewed this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and others are in development.
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