Health Care Workers Get Hawaii’s First COVID-19 Shots
After months of working with coronavirus patients, health workers at the Queen’s Medical System said they were grateful for what will be a new layer of protection against the infectious respiratory disease.
A Honolulu doctor, two nurses, a respiratory therapist and a housekeeping aide were the first volunteers in the state to be inoculated with a long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday.
The five employees of The Queen鈥檚 Health Systems are among the first of an estimated 35,000 high-risk health workers and 11,000 first responders prioritized to get the shot across the state.
The Pfizer vaccine, approved for , is administered in two doses about three weeks apart. Gov. David Ige said the state is expecting a delivery of 3,900 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Wednesday, followed by another 45,000 doses by the end of the month.
Queen’s received one of the first shipments Monday, with approximately 975 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine tucked inside a box the size of a personal pizza. Queen’s is expecting the delivery of second doses for the same employees to arrive in three weeks. Thousands of doses will be delivered on a weekly basis and stored in ultra-cold freezers.
Dr. Lester Morehead, a hospitalist who works directly with patients affected by the disease in The Queen鈥檚 Medical Center COVID-19 unit, volunteered to get the first shot in front of television cameras. After caring for entire families who were infected, he urged everyone to take the shot.
鈥淒on鈥檛 just think about yourself. Think about your entire family,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 OK to be concerned. But I鈥檓 confident in the science. My biggest fear is people won鈥檛 get the vaccine.鈥
Jason Chang, president of The Queen鈥檚 Medical Center and chief operation officer for The Queen鈥檚 Health Systems, said in a typical year, 90% of employees get a flu shot. He expects high adoption rates for the COVID-19 vaccine as well. Inoculation is not mandatory.
Deborah Lichota, a registered nurse who works in the intensive care unit, also said she was grateful to get the vaccine Tuesday after an 鈥渆xhausting鈥 year.
鈥淲e as nurses want to save and protect lives, and there have been times where we’re at a patient’s bedside holding their hand when it should be their family with them,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen people who were once very strong become just a fraction of the person they once were. There are long-term effects that are going to haunt people forever and that鈥檚 why (vaccine) non-believers need to see it.鈥
The federal government is allocating vaccine doses to states based on their populations.
It will likely be at least six months before Hawaii has a sufficient supply to offer vaccines to 70% of the state鈥檚 1.4 million population 鈥 the benchmark that officials intend to reach.
Queen鈥檚 officials estimated it will take two months to offer inoculations to their 8,000 employees statewide.
According to the state鈥檚 vaccination plan, an estimated 46,000 people in Hawaii will be offered the vaccine in the first phase, including hospital and nursing home workers, first responders and others who work in settings that put them at a higher risk for coming into contact with bodily fluids or aerosols.
The next group will include people of all ages with health conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe bouts of COVID-19, followed by thousands of elderly Hawaii residents who live in communal settings.
The Hawaii Department of Health and City and County of Honolulu ran drills on Monday to practice delivery and distribution of the vaccine.
Scientists have yet to determine if a person who has been vaccinated can still carry the virus and infect others, according to the Department of Health Director, Dr. Libby Char.
“We do not know how long the vaccine will confer immunity,” she said in a statement Monday. “Until these questions are answered, we must continue to protect ourselves and the people we love by wearing face masks and physical distancing.”
Jill Hoggard Green, the Queen’s statewide system’s new president and chief executive officer, said the vaccines are not a cure but will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and offer the first sign of hope during the pandemic.
“We are still in the middle of a battle,” she said. “With the vaccine we have the opportunity to become a healthier community.”
