Local health officials are urging individuals who fall within phase 1a of Kentucky’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout — health care workers and long-term care residents — to get vaccinated.
“Getting the vaccine is beyond protecting yourself. It’s a selfless act,” Beth McCraw, Jennie Stuart’s vice president of nursing and clinical services, said on a conference call between local health officials and the media on Wednesday. “We’re all doing this for everybody else as well.”
Jennie Stuart Medical Center received 500 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine last week. By the end of this week, McCraw expects approximately 250 hospital employees and affiliated providers will be vaccinated. She added all of those who have expressed interest should receive the vaccine by early next week.
“We’re circling back around with all the employees that had initially said, ‘I think I’m going to wait and get the vaccine a little bit later,’” McCraw said. She estimated that hospital employees and affiliated providers comprise approximately 1,000 health care workers.
“I know some people have some fears about taking the vaccine … because I’ve talked to a few folks,” she noted. “I know there’s been some surveys sent out, and some folks are waiting for the first group to go through.
“I want to encourage everybody … to please, please consider taking the vaccine if it is offered to you. It should be comforting that it’s been tested exhaustively in many thousands of people with clinical trials that are even larger and more diverse than anything that we’ve probably even seen in the past.”
The Christian County Health Department, which is responsible for vaccinating “non-hospital” health care personnel, also received a shipment of vaccines last week.
As of Wednesday morning, the department had administered 213 COVID-19 vaccines to first responders who provide medical care and other health workers, spokeswoman Amanda Sweeney said.
“If you work in a health care facility or you’re in a health care setting and would like to be vaccinated, your facility must register to be vaccinated, and that is a very simple process,” she explained.
Agencies should register by filling out the vaccine survey at christiancountyhd.com.
“Once that is submitted, that comes to us, and then we’re going to call and coordinate vaccinating your staff,” Sweeney said. “That’s a very important step we’re asking everyone to follow, and this just helps us keep a fluid process as we vaccinate the community.
Next week, the health department plans to begin calling non-hospital health care facilities that have not yet responded.
“We hope to move through these as quickly as possible so we can move to the next stage, but once that phase is done, any [health care worker who did not] receive [a vaccination] in their phase, … will be moved to the general population because they’ve had their opportunity,” Christian County Health Director Kayla Bebout said.
154 local first responders vaccinated
Of the vaccines administered by the health department as of Wednesday morning, 154 were given to local first responders who fall within the first phase of the state’s vaccination rollout plan. Bebout said a “large basis” have received the vaccine, but there were still several who have not yet been vaccinated.
“These are first responders — so this is fire, EMS, law enforcement — that provide medical treatment,” Bebout said. “Of course, they are the first ones on a scene of an accident, so if medical treatment has to be assessed or given to individuals, they are considered health care personnel in that aspect, so they fall underneath that 1a tier of health care personnel.”
Receiving the vaccine if you’ve had COVID-19
During the call Wednesday, Sweeney addressed a common question the department has received from the public: Can you get vaccinated if you’ve had COVID-19?
“If you have tested positive for COVID-19, but you’re past your isolation or quarantine period and you’ve fully recovered over 24 hours, you can get the vaccine,” she explained.
When will the vaccine be available to the general public?
Another common question local health officials have received regards when the coronavirus vaccine will be available to the general public.
“More than likely we’re looking at early summer before it’s available to the general public, and it’s going to be based on several factors,” Sweeney said Wednesday. “That is whether or not the state can administer enough vaccinations to us. … There’s a lot of variables there and a lot of factors. But that’s our tentative goal — is to have it by early summer for the general public.”
The health department asked for the public’s patience as it navigates administering the vaccine.
McCraw echoed Sweeney’s comments and reminded the community that “the light is not at the end of the tunnel.”
“It sounds like it’s probably going to be into the summer, potentially, before the general public as a whole is going to be able to get the vaccine.
“All the projections that we’ve seen so far is that we need to have about 70% to 90% of the population to be vaccinated to really protect those who cannot protect themselves. So, please keep in mind that we have to continue to be diligent — practice the safety procedures that we have: social distancing, wearing a mask, good hand hygiene. It’s all of those things put together.
“We all have to work together to try to protect our community and each other.”
(Julia Hunter is the engagement editor for Hoptown Chronicle, a nonprofit news outlet that provides public service journalism from the heart of Hopkinsville. Reach her at julia@hoptownchronicle.org.)
Julia Hunter is the engagement editor for Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at julia@hoptownchronicle.org.
