(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center began administering doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to frontline employees and medical staff Tuesday.

Family medicine physician Charlie Jose, MD, and emergency room nurse Amanda Schlecht, RN, were the first two to receive the vaccine. Dr. Jose and Amanda Schlecht have been on the frontlines of patient care throughout the pandemic. Both were eager to receive the vaccine and look forward to the greater community getting immunized when supplies increase.

PeaceHealth will continue to vaccinate frontline staff over the coming weeks and will continue to work with the Emergency Operations Center and local public health to support community distribution of vaccine once it becomes broadly available.

Chief Medical Officer, Peter Rice, MD, said, “Today marks a new beginning; one of hope…every day for the past 10 months, our caregivers have provided exceptional, compassionate care under difficult circumstances of rapid change and uncertainty.”

Dr. Rice urges the community to remember the battle with the pandemic continues until herd immunity is achieved. In his words, “We cannot afford to let our guard down. We must continue to wear masks, we must maintain social distance, and we must practice good hand hygiene.”

Ketchikan’s first vaccinations were administered December 18, 2020 to pharmacists at Island Pharmacy and to workers and residents at assisted living centers after a shipment arrived earlier Friday.

The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine was received in Ketchikan December 16th. This first shipment was intended for Public Health nurses and Emergency Medical Service Providers according to the Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The vaccine was taken to the Public Health Clinic and later determined to be unusable due to being out of the required temperature range becoming too warm during transport. Now vaccines are being shipped in smaller batches which can be at room temperature and must be admistered within a short time frame.

Vaccines were also administered to Ketchikan Fire Department and South Tongass Fire Department EMS personnel on Friday, December 19th.

On the Web:

Information on the COVID-19 vaccine in Alaska
http://covidvax.alaska.gov

Alaska Health Orders
 www.covid19.alaska.gov. 

Current information on the response to COVID-19 in Ketchikan, including Community Risk Level indicator data
 www.kgbak.us/covid19  

 

Edited By Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Source of News:

PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
www.peacehealth.org/ketchikan

Ketchikan Emergency Operations Center
www.kgbak.us/covid19 

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