FORT COLLINS, Colorado. – The first person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado said he later felt “great.”
Kevin Londrigan, a respiratory therapist at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, was the first person in Colorado to receive the Pfizer vaccine after FDA approval.
Londrigan, who has worked at Loveland Hospital for 20 years, joined several other health workers at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and UCHealth Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, who also received the vaccine Monday. .
Governor Jared Polis was present during the inoculations at Fort Collins. Located next to Londrigan, he congratulated the respiratory therapist after receiving the shot.
“I want all our health workers, I mean, can you imagine the precaution we all take to avoid covid? They are (health workers) with covid patients every day,” Polis said.
Londrigan works in the hospital’s ICU unit, where 95% of its patients are positive for COVID-19, according to hospital officials.
After receiving the first vaccine, Londrigan said the following in response to “how are you feeling?” “Great,” he said.
The third person in the state to receive the vaccine and the second at Fort Collins Hospital was a nurse, Kelly Shaw.
“I’m very excited,” Shaw said. “We hope this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”
Front-line workers who received the first dose of the vaccine on Monday will return in 21 days for the second dose.
Colorado received the first shipment of the vaccine around 8 a.m. Monday, just hours after the first shipments of the vaccine for widespread use in the United States began leaving a Michigan Pfizer plant on Sunday.
Polis, who was on hand to receive the first shipment from Colorado, asked hospital administrators to confirm to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) their plans to begin issuing the vaccine and request support the CDPHE if they needed it.
It may take several days to reach more rural doses in Colorado, but officials say they expect smaller hospitals to have doses by mid-week.
High-risk people in the general population are expected to begin receiving the vaccine in the spring.
The Modern vaccine is also expected to be approved this week, giving Colorado another 95,600 doses. But while the vaccine is on its way for many health workers, officials say it will be at least a few months until the general public has access.