General public vaccines expected in spring

Updated at 4:35 p.m.

Vaccination plans for the community of Martha’s Vineyard are underway at the hospital, with an estimated rollout to the general public in the spring and throughout the summer.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call Wednesday, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital President and CEO Denise Schepici said the hospital will play a leading role in delivering the vaccine to the people of the island. A team is being set up to work out the logistics of administering the vaccine on the island.

“We have learned so much from our tests for COVID-19, and we want to transform that information, reinforced by the support we receive from the Mass General Brigham system, to develop a smart and effective strategy to deliver the vaccine to everyone. ‘Isle. Schepici said.

The hospital follows the guidelines of the state and its parent company, Mass General Brigham. A chart released by the state divides the estimated vaccine rollout into three phases. The state is still in phase one, which includes healthcare workers, long-term care facilities, first responders, collective care facilities, home health workers, and healthcare workers providing care. COVID-free care. Phase two is expected to start later this month and end in April and includes people with more than two co-morbidities, early education, K-12, public transportation, grocery shopping, sanitation, public health workers, food and agriculture, adults over 65, those with comorbidity. Phase three, which includes the general public, is expected to start in April and end in June.

The deployment of vaccines to the general public should look like the flu clinic held in november, with cars laid out in areas around the island, then sent to a passing area to receive the shot.

Claire Seguin, chief nurse and chief operating officer, said the vaccine rollout at the hospital is going “smoothly” and the hospital is moving to the next phase to vaccinate all hospital staff.

The hospital has also started administering second doses of vaccine to staff. In total, the hospital administered the first dose of vaccine to 308 staff and the second dose to 100 staff.

Seguin added that each dose of the vaccine is used by the hospital and that there is a waiting list of eligible people, if someone decides not to take the vaccine.

“We have more people who want the vaccine than we have available doses,” Seguin said. “We will continue to make sure all doses are used.”

Schepici urges anyone who can get the vaccine to get it once the hospital can provide it.

Windemere’s 26 staff and 40 residents received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The second dose will be delivered on February 2. The vaccines were administered by a CVS team under a federal program.

Schepici said no staff or residents of Windemere have tested positive for COVID-19 since the hospital’s last press briefing on December 30. Last month, the hospital confirmed: a total of five Windemere employees tested positive for COVID-19.

On Wednesday, 13 island veterans traveled to Hyannis at the Veterans Administration clinic to receive the first of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Murphy told The Times the whole process took 20 minutes and went smoothly. “It was very fluid,” Murphy said.
After receiving the vaccine, the veterans received information about the vaccine and were signed up to return to Hyannis on February 10 for the second dose.

Any other Island veteran over the age of 85 who is interested should contact the Veterans Administration clinic for more details. The clinic then plans to vaccinate veterans over 75.

According to a hospital information sheet, the Pfizer vaccine is approved for children over 16 years of age. The Moderna vaccine is only approved for adults 18 years of age and older. The Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective seven days after the second dose. Moderna vaccine is 94% effective 14 days after the second dose.

Health officials do not know how long the immunity will last after vaccination. Health officials are also encouraging people with COVID-19 to continue getting vaccinated.

The vaccine is also provided to people at no cost, according to the hospital’s fact sheet.

There were 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday – 11 from the hospital and one from a private doctor.

The hospital has performed 11,183 tests for COVID-19 since March. Of these, 481 tested positive, 10,612 negative and 90 are awaiting results.

There are currently two patients hospitalized for COVID-19. One patient has been admitted to hospital since January 6, the other was admitted on Tuesday. The two admitted patients are in “acceptable condition”, according to Seguin.

On Tuesday, the hospital sent a patient in “serious condition” off the island by MedFlight. There have been a total of four transfers related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

The patient admitted last week was a readmission. Seguin said that once a patient hits the 14-day mark after infection, they are no longer contagious.

“Once they’re readmitted beyond this stage, it’s for residual effects on their own body,” Seguin said.

Schepici again stressed the importance of hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks.

“We are in a wave because some just refuse to do what most of us do, making sacrifices to stay compliant and to stop this spread,” Schepici said. “I want to keep urging people to do the right thing.”

Meanwhile, TestMV has performed 29,954 tests since June. Of these, 199 have tested positive, 28,674 negative and 1,081 are awaiting results.

The town of Aquinnah reported its first positive case from its own tests on Friday. In total, the city performed 388 tests, one of which came back positive, 375 negative and 12 pending results.

Of the 680 cases confirmed since March, 342 are women and 338 are men. Of these, 114 are under 20, 120 are in their twenties, 172 in their thirties, 100 in their forties, 92 in their fifties, 52 in their sixties and 28 are over 70.

There was one new probable case on Tuesday, totaling 45 probable cases that have been reported since March – 23 women and 22 men.

Individuals may be tested more than once to confirm illness or to be released from isolation. This can cause a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of positive tests reported.

Of these, 26 received positive antibody tests and 19 were diagnosed symptomatically. There are eight in their sixties, 11 in their twenties, six in their fifties, eight in their forties, four under 20, three over 70 and five in their thirties.

Test positivity rates are also on the rise on the island. Over the past two weeks, the positivity rate has dropped from 4.1% to 9.2%.

Oak Bluffs has accounted for 27 cases in the past 14 days, the data shows. The city has a positivity rate of 6.08%. Tisbury has seen 28 reported cases in the past 14 days, with a positivity rate of 3.77%.

On Tuesday, the state reported 4,906 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a 7.45% positivity rate and an estimated 90,975 active cases statewide. There have been 67 new deaths, for a total of 12,996 deaths from COVID-19 since March.

Updated to include current COVID numbers – Ed.