WDIO-TV Created: December 17, 2020 04:44 PM
Essentia Health administered its first COVID-19 vaccines in Duluth on Thursday, apparently marking the first time the vaccine has been given to people in the city.
The organization said in a news release that whoops, cheers, and applause filled the room as respiratory therapist Bill Simmons received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. He was the first of 120 front-line Essentia workers to receive the vaccine Thursday.
Essentia Health-Duluth received a total of 975 doses of the vaccine in earlier this week. The first people to receive the vaccine will include health care providers and residents of long-term-care facilities.
Respiratory therapist Bill Simmons received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
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Dr. Avish Nagpal, an infectious disease expert at Sanford Health, takes his COVID-19 vaccine. Andrew Nelson / WDAY
FARGO The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine came to North Dakota at a time when hospitalizations are going down statewide.
Sanford Health and Essentia Health have half the patients in the hospital since November, while Altru is down to just 18 patients with COVID.
Dr. Doug Griffin, Sanford s chief medical officer, said the vaccine rollout may help continue the downward trend.
Alejandra Palacios Created: December 14, 2020 06:04 PM
As the first doses of the COVID-19 are beginning to arrive in Minnesota, local hospitals are preparing for the daunting vaccination process.
Essentia Health says they are starting vaccination next Monday, Dec.21. The first shipment of the vaccine will be arriving Tuesday. We expect to receive 46,800 units of vaccine across statewide regional vaccine distribution hubs this week, said Kris Ehresmann, the director of the infectious disease division for the Minnesota Department of Health. We ve been looking forward to this and been planning for this for several months actually about the logistics around receiving the vaccine, distributing the vaccine and then administering it and tracking it for the people that receive the vaccine, said Dr. Richard Vetter, the Essentia Health West Market Chief Medical Officer.