By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines is expected to arrive in Wood County today, with more in the next couple days – just in time for Christmas.
Wood County Hospital is scheduled to get 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine today, according to Cristy Walton, vice president of development at the hospital. Those 500, plus another 200 from the health department will allow all hospital staff to be vaccinated.
The vaccination process for hospital staff will begin Wednesday at 6 a.m., Walton said.
In the next couple days Wood County Health Department will be receiving 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which was authorized Friday by the FDA for emergency use.
Exactly who will get the first doses will be based on the priorities set by the state, explained Alex Aspacher, community outreach coordinator for Wood County Health Department.
The first vaccines will be given to local health care workers, EMS personnel, and people more likely to experience serious illness if they contract COVID – presumably residents of long-term care facilities.
The health department has not been told when more shipments of the vaccine are expected to be delivered.
The vaccines come with a few tricky characteristics.
First, they must be stored at extremely cold temperatures. Second, people must receive two doses of the same type of vaccine several days apart.
The Pfizer vaccine comes in two doses, with the second one to be given 21 days after the first. The Moderna doses must be given 28 days apart.
“We’re going to be working very hard to make sure people know how to do that – that they have to go back,” Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison said last month.
The Pfizer vaccine requires storage at -76 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit. It can stay in a packing container with two refreshers of dry ice for up to 10 days. After the vaccine is removed from cold storage, the health department has five days to use it, according to Robison.
“It’s definitely more challenging,” he said of the ultra cold requirements.
The Moderna vaccine must be stored at -4 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. That can be done in standard freezer storage, so it would be easier managed at the local level, Robison said.
In preparing for the vaccines, the board of health voted earlier this month to enter into an agreement with Bowling Green State University to use its cold storage for vaccines.
Both vaccines come with data logs, so local health officials can tell if the temperatures remained low enough during transportation.
The next month or so will be rocky, Robison predicted. But the health department is rehearsing its vaccine distribution plan.
“Every single person at the health department has a role in our vaccine campaign,” he said. “So when it arrives, it’s ready to go.”
Robison’s goal is that local residents will find it easy to get the vaccine once it’s available.
“You can get a vaccine as easily as a frosty from Wendy’s,” if all goes as planned, he said.
Once the initial rounds of vaccines are dispersed, the health department will try to make the public aware of who is next in line. A self-scoring quiz will be placed on the health department’s website, and an app may be tried that notifies people when they are eligible for the shots. The vaccine information will be pushed through community groups, schools and churches.
“We’re going to try to make this as widely known as we can,” Robison said.
Though hope is on the horizon, people still must be very cautious, Robison said.
“We are facing a significant increase in cases,” he said. “This poses a significant risk to our residents,” and could overwhelm the local medical community. People still need to wear masks, wash hands, stay socially distant, and limit the size of gatherings.
There is no talk about making the vaccines mandatory, Robison said. But Wood County Health Department will be urging people to roll up their sleeves.
“We’re going to really encourage people to take it,” he said.
The results won’t be immediate, Robison cautioned.
“We may not be able to ensure herd immunity at the beginning of the vaccine,” he said.
In between the two doses, people will need to continue taking COVID-19 precautions.
“You can’t take your mask off when you get your first dose,” Robison explained.
But it will be the start to a solution.
“If we really have an uptick of the vaccine, we should see a real decline in COVID,” he said. “Then we can see life on the other side of COVID.”
