The excitement from the staff was noticeable. When they asked me yesterday when do you want it, I say yesterday, said Dr. Mohommad Ashraf, a cardiologist at the hospital. They say we don t have the vaccine yesterday, I say whenever the vaccine comes in, I shall be the first one.
Dr. Ashraf and 19 other staff members at Madera Community Hospital were given the vaccine Thursday afternoon. Another 20 staff members will be vaccinated on Friday, and that number is expected to ramp up next week.
The vaccinations come as the nation is seeing record numbers of COVID-19-related deaths and hospitalizations, but the death that impacted Dr. Ashraf the most came at the dawn of this pandemic: a colleague of 40 years.