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As COVID-19[female[feminine vaccinations accelerate across the United States, a hospital in hard-hit California says its staff have achieved collective immunity. In December, when the pandemic was at its peak in the state, UC Davis Medical Center had 231 employees because of COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, that number was only 10.
More than 56 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States so far, although the country is still a long way from herd immunity, scientists say the country needs to be safe. At UC Davis however, over 90% of the staff have received at least their first blow – and have reached that threshold.
UC Davis nurse Chasity Whitmer was giving birth at the height of the pandemic. When the time came for her to get the shot, she told CBS News’s David Begnaud that she was hesitant.
“If I got the vaccine, would I have COVID? What would be my side effects? How long would this last? Whitmer remembered wondering.
But with a husband who stays at home and takes care of the children, Whitmer told CBS News what changed her mind.
“I was orienting a relief nurse in my unit and we kind of had a discussion,” she said. “What if we have COVID? We wouldn’t be able to work. We wouldn’t have any income, we wouldn’t have health insurance. And so we kind of just had a chat between ourselves and strengthened our confidence and we are held online to get vaccinated. “
She and more than 90% of the staff at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento received at least one dose of the vaccine.
That number is 100% among emergency doctors at the hospital, said Dr Nate Kuppermann, director of the emergency department.
Kuppermann said that vaccinating the majority of employees had changed his ability to staff the emergency department, and he felt “that pressure has been lifted from our shoulders.”
“So before the vaccine came out, on any given day, we would have between 100, 150 employees who were sick with COVID and calling sick people who weren’t coming,” he said. “And now I think it’s a number. I mean it’s less than 10.”
It’s not just UC Davis’ healthcare system – across the University of California healthcare system, cases among healthcare workers have increased from 431 per week to 171 per week. With fewer sick staff, the pressure on health workers has also decreased.
Acting Director of Employee Health Services Anne Tompkins said UC Davis data and people’s stories are “a testament that the vaccine really works.”
“We’re going to be OK,” she said.
As for Whitmer, the nurse went from vaccine skeptic to evangelizer – days after receiving her second dose, Whitmer’s husband, mother, three children and grandmother have all tested positive for COVID-19 . Only she and her grandfather didn’t – and are the only two in the family to have been vaccinated.
“My husband was extremely ill with COVID pneumonia, was here in the emergency department for nine hours. My grandmother spent 25 days in the hospital with COVID pneumonia and is still recovering from oxygen,” said Whitmer. “It’s no fun seeing your family members sick. It’s very scary to be a nurse, to see them get sicker and sicker and to go to the hospital, to stay at home.
Whitmer said reliving it made her emotional, as she was unsure if her husband “would be one of those who lived. or die.“
A CBS News crew member filming a video inside UC Davis said it was the quietest and quietest hospital he had visited in months.
And even though staff are confident that they are all protected by the vaccine, they still demand masks and social distancing at all times.
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