Columbus Regional Health has administered about half of the initial shipment it received last week of the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccine as hospitals across the country work to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
CRH vaccinated about 430 health care workers in Bartholomew County and the surrounding area during the two first days of its vaccination clinic, including roughly 230 on Friday and 200 on Saturday, said Dr. Slade Crowder, vice president of physician enterprise operations and associate chief medical officer at CRH.
That would come out to roughly 44% of CRH’s initial shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
CRH received 975 doses of the Pifzer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday, and the hospital system anticipates receiving “somewhere around 5,000 vaccines” over the next several weeks, including about 975 this week, Crowder said.
However, the number of doses that CRH receives and when remains “a little bit fluid” particularly now that federal regulators have authorized a second COVID-19 vaccine, made by Moderna Inc., which began shipping Sunday, CRH officials said.
CRH officials said they planned to vaccinate another 200 to 230 health care workers on Monday at its vaccination clinic, located at a warehouse located near the main hospital campus on the corner of 17th Street and Keller Avenue.
“We’re really pleased with how the clinic has gone the first couple of days,” Crowder said. “…It’s nice to just have some hope finally, some light at the end of the tunnel.”
CRH’s vaccination efforts come as more and more hospitals across the country join the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
Last week, about 556,000 people in the U.S. received COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 50 hospitals in Indiana received 55,575 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Indiana’s initial batch of vaccines, however, falls far short of demand.
State health officials said there are more than 400,000 eligible health care workers in Indiana, including an estimated 3,147 in Bartholomew County.
The U.S. hopes for enough vaccines for 20 million people by the end of the month.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized an emergency rollout of the Moderna vaccine Friday, The Associated Press reported.
CRH held a soft launch of its vaccine efforts on Thursday and vaccinated six health care workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
So far, no adverse reactions have been reported locally except for a sore arm, Crowder said.
“I’m actually pleasantly surprised,” Crowder said. “I thought more people would get a mild headache.”
