SUN photo/Randi Pierce
Dr. Ralph Battels, chief of staff at Pagosa Springs Medical Center, receives the county’s first COVID-19 vaccine while fellow physician Dr. Michelle Flemmings claps. Flemmings received the next vaccine dose.
By Randi Pierce
Staff Writer
The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Colorado Monday, with some of those doses then making their way to Pagosa Springs Medical Center (PSMC) Wednesday.
Early Wednesday afternoon, PSMC Chief of Staff Dr. Ralph Battels and fellow Emergency Room physician Dr. Michelle Flemmings became the first in Archuleta County to receive a dose of the vaccine.
Both noted their excitement and anticipation before receiving the vaccine, likening it to Christmas, and reported no pain from the shot.
Published December 14, 2020 at 6:22 PM MST
David Zalubowski
AP Photo, Pool
Gov. Jared Polis, right, trails the cart bearing the state’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to a freezer with Patrick Belou, logisitics specialist at the laboratory for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, early Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in east Denver. The state received 975 frozen vials of the vaccine, which will be distributed immediately.
The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Colorado Monday morning. We look at the excitement surrounding their arrival, and the distribution challenges that lie ahead. We’ll hear how state officials are reconsidering plans to close the state’s three alternate care sites in January, and learn more about a new statewide effort to boost contact tracing capacity. We’ll also hear about Colorado’s nine electors casting their votes in the 2020 presidential election. And finally, we get some tips from a competitive snow sculpt