Credit Ryan Van Velzer | wfpl.org
Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor lost her 27th patient to COVID-19 on Monday morning. Before noon, she was among the first five patients in Kentucky to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Over the next three days, 11 regional hospitals across the state will receive more than 12,000 doses of the vaccine to administer to health care workers like Briones-Pryor, who has worked in a COVID-19 wing at Jewish Hospital since March 17th.
“The vaccine I took today was for her family, and the other 26 [patients] I have lost,” Briones-Pryor said.
More than 2,000 Kentuckians have lost their lives to COVID-19 since the first case was confirmed in the state on March 6th. The pandemic continues to grip the state with 119 of 120 counties reporting uncontrolled spread of the virus.