The Covid-19 vaccine is a source of hope for health workers. But it comes too late for hundreds of them

by

“A practicing nurse wrote on a piece of paper that she had the vaccine for my father,” said her daughter, Andrea Araujo.

“He wrote:” For my boss and my friend who died weeks before receiving the vaccine. #ForDrAraujo “It was sad, but also very nice.”

Araujo Preza was 51 when he died Nov. 30 in the same intensive care unit where he served as critical care medical director at HCA Houston Healthcare in Tomball, Texas.

More than 240,000 health workers have been infected with coronavirus and nearly 900 have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For their families and for the more than 300,000 Americans who have died of Covid-19, the long-awaited vaccine is a source of hope in a year of despair. But it comes too late.

Dr. Carlos Araujo Preza, a Houston area pulmonologist who died after contracting Covid-19 while caring for patients.

A “bittersweet” moment

Hundreds of people across the country, mostly front-line health workers, received the first dose of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine over a week that killed nearly 20,000 Americans with the virus. A second Covid-19 vaccine will soon be released, with more than 237,000 people expected to die during the winter months.
Last Monday, when the first doses of the vaccine were delivered to the 50 states in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the national death toll from the virus exceeded 300,000.
Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities are the first to receive the vaccine. But it will be a few months before most Americans can get one.

“I hope this is the first step in helping other people not go through what my family has gone through,” Andrea Araujo said. “I hope we’re going in the right direction.”

Hope is hard work in a country that has surpassed its own hospitalization record for more than a dozen consecutive days.

Over the weekend, there were more than 114,700 coronavirus patients nationwide, according to the COVID monitoring project. The United States reported an average of more than 219,000 new infections each day over the past week. Another record was set on Friday: more than 249,700 new infections were recorded.
Dr. Valerie Briones-Pryor was one of the first people in Kentucky to receive the new Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine last Monday. He described the moment as “bittersweet.”

“As I was walking to get the vaccine, I actually just heard that my 27th patient died, so it was very emotional,” he said.

“The burden of fear had risen”

Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse in New York, received the vaccine authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a week ago. He is believed to be the first person in the country to be vaccinated against coronavirus.

Lindsay, an ICU nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, was shot by Dr. Michelle Chester, the corporate director of employee health services at Northwell Health.

Lindsay and Chester, both black, represent two groups – people of color and health workers – disproportionately affected by the national health crisis. They know that the history of American racism in medical treatments and research and the lack of trust in the federal government has left some black Americans and Latinos hesitant to get the vaccine.
US sees record number of Covid-19 hospitalizations as CDC advisory group votes to recommend modern vaccine

“Every day, since March, when I got to work … it’s gotten darker and darker,” Lindsay said Friday night on CNN City Hall “The Color of Covid – The vaccines “.

“I’ve seen the effects. And I don’t want to see you end up in one of our ICU beds or go into our hospitals.”

He added: “I’ve been telling my colleagues, in my 26 and a half years of nursing, I’ve never been so scared. After the shot … I clapped. It seemed to me that the burden of fear was on me. I had lifted from my shoulders. “

The general surgeon of the United States, Dr. Jerome Adams, and Vice President Mike Pence received the vaccine publicly on Friday as part of a campaign to boost public confidence.

“We have to acknowledge that this … distrust comes from a historic place,” Adams, who is black, told CNN. “But we also need to explain to people that we are putting in place protections to make sure this can never be repeated.

“When you look at Covid-19, the fact that you’re three to five times more likely to end up in a hospital and / or die if you’re African American, Hispanic, or Native American is mistakes that are happening right now.”

There are no reservations about the vaccine

Araujo Preza was born in El Salvador and came to the United States in 1994 to continue his medical training. He studied at Staten Island University Hospital in New York and Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2001 he moved to the Houston area, where he worked as a pulmonologist for nearly two decades.

In April, during the height of the first wave of the pandemic, she slept in the hospital for nearly a month to be on duty, according to her daughter. When he fell ill in October, he downplayed his condition so as not to worry his family.

Araujo Preza was admitted to the ICU in early November and remained there for about a week and a half. He had barely been released from the hospital 48 hours before being readmitted. When his condition worsened, he was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital and later placed in a ventilator. He never returned home.

Gupta: Getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is like a PPE at the molecular level

“Throughout my life he always worked very hard and was very dedicated to his patients and their practice,” Andrea Araujo said. “And more this year than ever, he exemplified.”

She has no reservations about receiving the vaccine, she said.

“I’m not a health professional, but I know my dad wanted to get the vaccine,” Araujo said. “And that gives me confidence. Whenever I get a chance to get it, I will.”

Jhulan Banago said he does not feel bitter because his mother never received the vaccine.
Celia Yap-Banago, who was born in the Philippines, died in April at the age of 69, just days before celebrating her 40th birthday as a nurse at the Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

“There’s a great opportunity ahead of us,” the 29-year-old engineer said. “We can’t change what has already happened and, to move forward, I want healthcare workers with 29-year-olds not to have the interview we’re doing now.”

Since his death, Yap-Banago’s family has always arranged a small plate for him at dinner. They often turn the TV on to their favorite station: the Hallmark Channel, which they watched while they slept.

“Mom would be excited and relieved to know for sure that there is a vaccine developed to help us, to help front-line workers fight this terrible enemy,” Banago said.

CNN’s Harmeet Kaur, Catherine E. Shoichet, Christina Maxouris, Eric Levenson, and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.

.Source

Leave a Comment