More UF Health Jacksonville workers are vaccinated against COVID-19

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – With the arrival on Tuesday of 10,000 more doses of COVID-19 vaccine at UF Health Jacksonville, 100 front-line health workers were expected to receive the first vaccines.

Hospital officials said the most at-risk staff members were next for the vaccines. From here, more staff members will be dosed until all frontline staff are vaccinated.

Vaccinations began again at 7 a.m. Tuesday and were expected to continue into the afternoon. They will then resume on Wednesday.

“I think things are going very well this morning,” UF health division director Jeanne Bradshaw said Tuesday. “It simply came to our notice then. We have not had any reaction to the vaccines. Everyone has been very excited to achieve this. “

All people who received the shot had to be monitored for about 15 minutes to make sure they had no reaction. They were given a locator, similar to what could be seen in a restaurant. When it was turned off, they were checked quickly. From there, they were allowed to leave the room.

Flight nurse Tony Hayes was excited to roll up his sleeves.

“It is an honor that UF Health has been one of the five hospitals in Florida to do so. We have been preparing for this for a long time. But I think it’s important. I feel confident about getting that, “Hayes said.” I trust the people here at UF Health Jacksonville, especially the doctors. They’re some of the smartest people I know. I really think they have our best. interest in the fund ”.

Dr. Leigh Neumayer, a doctor in the UF Department of Health Surgery, also rolled up her sleeve. Many people come with COVID-19. In fact, he has had to cancel surgeries after patients ended up testing positive just before going under the knife. He said it has been an emotional journey and he has seen the tragic side of COVID-19.

“To help these people who are sadly dying of loneliness. Luckily, we have been improving the treatment because we have practiced it a lot. But this is still a very deadly disease. People should continue to take precautions, “said Neumayer. “It’s very discouraging for those of us who expose ourselves, but the most important thing about taking care of these patients is that other people say it’s a hoax or it’s not real. I wish they would come and spend a day with me. I can show them the X-rays ”.

Neumayer said people should still continue to wear masks wherever they go.

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Health workers described the arrival of the vaccine as a historic event, not only in their personal history, but in the fight to defeat the coronavirus and restore normalcy to the world.

“Hopefully we as a state and as a country will be in such a better position to fight this pandemic, much better than even yesterday,” said Justin Senior, CEO of Safety Net Hospital Alliance, which includes UF Health and Ascension St. Vincent’s and former secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Administration said Monday.

Baptist Health System expects to begin vaccinating its employees next week.

According to federal officials, the administration of the vaccine will continue to be staggered. Once the front-line workers and health care workers have been completed, the residents of the long-term care centers are as follows, followed by people aged 65 and over.

“Between long-term care residency and age 65 and over, they account for more than 80% and approach 90% of fatalities in the state of Florida,” Senior said. “And Florida isn’t alone in that.”

It has not yet been announced which demographics will qualify for the next rounds. Dr. Kevin Duane, owner of Panama Pharmacy, said he believes the state of Florida is following a good vaccine distribution plan.

“They have to protect the most vulnerable first, and that’s not the general public. The most vulnerable are people most of us don’t see. They are the front-line health workers in the emergency services and ICUs across the state, ”Duane said.

For those questioning the vaccine’s effectiveness, Duane said those beliefs come from misinformation.

“The vaccine itself is new, but the technology behind it is not. We have long used the technology behind it in other trials and in another disease it claims, like the Zika virus, for example, ”he said.

Because the Pfizer shot requires two rounds, people who get the vaccines will now receive a second shot in about three weeks.

“I think the hardest part is seeing all the suffering and work that all of us are doing,” UF Health pharmacy director Berni Belgado said on Tuesday. “When we see something like this happen, the future looks brighter.”

On Tuesday, Florida will have 100,000 doses of the vaccine for five hospitals, including UF Health Jacksonville. The state’s CVS and Walgreens pharmacies will also receive 60,000 doses to distribute to long-term care facilities, and the state will get 20,000 to administer them to care centers as well.

Gov. Ron DeSantis expects to receive about 365,000 doses of the Modern vaccine next week, following FDA emergency approval of this inoculation. Over the next two months, priority will be given to vaccination for health care workers, employees of long-term care facilities, and residents of those facilities. In February and beyond, DeSantis added, the vaccine will be available to high-risk people and the general public.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.