Midland County Health Department gets Moderna vaccine
Vaccinations underway for medical first responders
Dec. 22, 2020
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Nicole Swanton, public health preparedness coordinator, is given the Moderna vaccine on Monday by nurse Shelley Kruskie. (Photo/Midland County Health Department)
Midland County health department team members were in a vaccine clinic planning meeting Monday when a text popped up announcing a shipment of the Moderna vaccine had just arrived. We knew we were going to receive it but we didn t know when, said Nicole Swanton, public health preparedness coordinator. There was a lot of excitement and a lot of cheering when it came in yesterday morning. It s been a long 10 months. To see that vaccine was really positive.
But a return to normal for Klamath County is still a long way off.
Two Legacy Health facilities in the Portland area each received 975 doses of the vaccine on Monday, and two more facilities in Portland and one in Ontario will each receive the same amount on Tuesday. The Oregon Health Authority said it will distribute a total of 35,100 doses to hospitals and 10,725 doses to skilled nursing facilities throughout the state this week. Two more shipments in December will provide an additional 63,300 doses.
Developed with German company BioNTech, Pfizer’s vaccine was found to be 95% effective in Phase 3 clinical trials that enrolled almost 44,000 people. The FDA’s standard for issuing an emergency use authorization for vaccines is 50% effectiveness.
cbleck@miningjournal.net
MARQUETTE It is anticipated that UP Health System-Marquette will receive the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines by next week, said Dr. Robert Lorinser, medical director of the Marquette County Health Department, Dickinson-Iron District Health Department, Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties.
“As soon as it’s here, we’re ready to go,” Lorinser said.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services indicated it has set an initial operational goal of vaccinating 70% of individuals age 16 or older, or about 5.6 million people, for COVID-19 by the end of 2021.
Frontline health care workers at two Michigan hospitals on Monday were the first people in the state to receive the COVID-19 vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration as well as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.