They made history Monday in a conference room at the Kaiser Permanent Los Angeles Medical Center in Sunset Boulevard.
It took about 45 minutes, which is the beginning of the end for COVID-19 in California.
Vaccination for five health workers started at 12:15 pm and closed at 12:54 pm.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Corsetti, Secretary of State for Health and Human Services Mark Galli, LA County Superintendent Hilda Solis and other officials and medical staff were in attendance.
After each shot was managed, cheers erupted from the room of the masked spectators.
“Is this yours?” Newsom asked Helen Cordova, a nurse in the intensive care unit and the first health worker to be vaccinated. “It’s mine,” he said, pointing to the amount the hospital pharmacy supervisor David Cheng had.
Marilyn Lansingen, a senior nurse for internal medicine, smiled, “Protect me,” before giving her the vaccine.
“I am very happy to have the vaccine with us because it gives us hope for the future,” Kordova later said.
Others who received a dose were Kim Taylor, a nurse in the emergency department; Brian Thompson, physician in the emergency department; Angela Bridge, who works in environmental services; And Raoul Aguilar, who works in respiratory therapy.
But the ceremony is only a short-term opportunity for staff to deal with the rise of patients suffering from COVID-19.
Taylor, 53, said when he arrived at the hospital Monday morning, four patients were waiting in bed in the ICU. Waiting hours can range from hours to days.
A few months after the hospital began caring for COVID-19 patients, Taylor said, “it’s very exciting now because it was early.”