Dr. Richard Bates drove nearly 150 miles earlier this month to pick up a chiller carrying 130 doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine from Midland Michigan Midland Medical Center to their hospital in Alpena – a city of about 10,000 people in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron.
The journey takes almost three hours in each direction and Alpena is about 70 miles from the highway, so much of the road is on two-lane roads.
Bates is an OB-GYN physician and regional vice president of medical affairs at MidMichigan Health, which received a shipment of 2,925 doses of vaccine on Dec. 16.
It was just two days after a nurse at ICS at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, New York, became one of the first people in the United States to receive the vaccination.
MidMichigan Health has also delivered doses to other facilities in its system, which serves 23 counties.
Bates is from Alpena and compared the administration of the vaccine in his hometown to the delivery of a child.
“Seeing our staff receive the vaccine was an incredible experience, as was delivering a new baby and handing that child over to parents, who just spent months and sometimes years thinking and dreaming and placing their hopes in that child,” he said. he for Bianna CNN. Golodryga. “Seeing our employees in tears and taking pictures of them receiving the vaccine and sharing it with their families was quite special.”
The US government’s Operation Warp Speed has promised that 20 million doses of vaccine will be administered by January 1, but this effort is delayed.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at ultra-cold temperatures, which creates a logistical challenge for smaller hospitals and facilities that do not have special freezers that can reach at least minus -75 degrees Celsius. It can be packed in dry ice for transport and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
US health officials have been preparing for months to distribute the vaccines and deliver them safely to remote communities.
MidMichigan Medical Center purchased two ultra-cold freezers before the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the FDA.
Another vaccine from Moderna can be stored at minus-20 degrees Celsius and stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days before it expires.
The vaccine offers a glimmer of hope for health care workers, who are struggling to take care of a record number of Covid-19 cases.
At least 340,956 people have died in the United States from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, and health experts fear the spread will worsen due to travel and family reunions during the holidays.
Alpena County recorded 1,134 reported Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths.
Bates said contributing to the vaccine was a powerful experience.
“The feelings in the room and the emotions were tangible, they were real and that was just something special to be a part of,” he said.
He has since made another delivery and has two more trips scheduled for next week.
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