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LEHI – The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continued to find its way into state hospitals on Thursday, as the Moderna vaccine took another step toward U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Intermountain said more than 1,800 caregivers received the vaccine at their Ogden hospitals in St. George, and other hospitals administered the vaccine to their workers for the first time.
“There is an electric feeling inside hospitals right now,” said Arlen Jarrett, regional chief medical officer for Steward Health Care. “We all can’t wait for this pandemic to spread and, you know, life to get back to normal. And I think with the vaccine, this is our best opportunity here.”
There is an electric sensation inside hospitals right now.
–Arlen Jarrett, Steward Health Care
Mountain Point Medical Center has joined several other hospitals across the state, administering the vaccine to healthcare workers who are routinely exposed to patients with COVID-19 while on the job.
“But it goes beyond our employees. It goes to their families. To those grandparents who haven’t been able to see their grandchildren for a long time. This is the beginning of the end of this process, ”Jarrett said.
“I think this is a defining moment,” said infectious disease specialist Dr Kashif Memon.
Memon said most frontline workers seem excited to get the vaccine. But he also admitted that others feared being vaccinated.
“And that’s my concern because we want at least 70% of the population to get vaccinated,” Memon said. “This is how we can get collective immunity.”
The study of the Pfizer vaccine shows that it is 95% effective. And two months of monitoring those who received it in the study showed it to be safe enough to be approved by the FDA.
“These vaccines have been studied in 30 (thousand) to 40,000 patients. And some people think we’re the guinea pigs. We are not the guinea pigs, ”he said. “It has already been tested. It has been proven. It is safe and effective.”
But questions persist, such as whether the vaccine protects you from infections or symptoms, and how long the protection will last. Yet for Memon, the question of whether you should get the vaccine is simple.
“I always say, you know, COVID kills, vaccine doesn’t kill,” he said. “So, it’s an easy decision.”
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