LANSING -- Abigail Wheeler has gotten plenty of vaccines over her lifetime, but none garnered as much attention as the shot she received Thursday, Nov. 17.
In front of television cameras and newspaper photographers, the Sparrow Hospital nurse held up her arm to a co-worker who injected a dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine -- making Wheeler the first person at Sparrow to get immunized against COVID-19.
Cheers and applause broke out from others waiting for their shot as Wheeler finished with her injection.
“It’s overwhelming. It’s exciting,” said Wheeler, who works in Sparrow’s unit for COVID-19 patients.
She said it’s been a challenging year, one punctuated by seeing so many people pass away from coronavirus.
“Dealing with all the loss has been hard,” Wheeler said. “I’ve been a nurse for almost seven years. And I think I’ve seen more people die this year than I have my whole career. That’s been very hard, very hard, especially for families who can’t say goodbye in person and they don’t have that closure.”
Sparrow is among the hospitals across Michigan beginning to vaccinate workers this week, a significant milestone in the battle against COVID-19, the infectious respiratory disease that has infected more than 450,000 residents and caused 11,208 confirmed deaths.
More than 26,000 doses of the Pfizer have been distributed to hospitals so far, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Frontline health-care workers are first in line for the vaccinations, and the Phase 1A group also includes residents of long-term care facilities, who should starting getting their shots in the next week or two.
Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination program includes non-hospital worker in essential and critical industries, including those in non-hospital health laboratories and mortuary services. Phase 1C includes individuals age 16 years or older at high risk for severe COVID-19 illness due to underlying medical conditions, and people 65 years and older. Phase 2 is the mass vaccination campaign for all individuals aged 16 years or older.
Vaccination in one phase may not be complete before vaccination in another phase begins, and the timing of each phase is dependent on supply of vaccine doses, MDHHS officials say. However, “current estimates are that by late spring 2021 enough vaccine will be available for everyone who is recommended to receive it,” according to MDHHS.
First COVID-19 vaccinations provide sense of hope for Michigan hospitals
Todd Belding, Sparrow’s pharmacy manager who is helping to oversee the vaccine program, was among those thrilled by the start of vaccinations at Sparrow.
“This is huge,” he said. “I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks.”
The hospital has received 1,950 doses, he said, which will be administered to frontline health-care workers, with priority on those with the most exposure to COVID-19 patients, including those working in the emergency department and the COVID units.
The hospital has a total of 4,500 frontline caregivers. That doesn’t include another 1,500 caregivers who work outside the hospital in Sparrow’s medical offices around metro Lansing and 3,000 employees who do not interact with patients, Belding said.
As to when they will all get vaccinated “it really depends on how fast we can get the vaccine,” he said. “So I got 2,000 doses to start, and we can do about 500 shots a day.”
Sparrow is encouraging employees to get vaccinated but is not mandating it, Belding said.
“There are two things we really don’t know about the vaccine,” he said. “One is how long the immunization will last, and we also don’t know the long-term side effects. So we’re a little reluctant to mandate something that we just don’t know enough about” in those two aspects.
Sparrow surveyed employees earlier this year about their feelings on a vaccine, he said. Of the 5,000 completed took the survey, about 58% said they planned to be vaccinated, 22% said maybe and 20% said they were unlikely to get the shot, he said.
Belding said it’s noteworthy that among survey-takers who actually work on units that care for COVID patients, none of the employees rejected the idea of being immunized. “They were either yes or maybe,” he said. “So people who see this disease every day are very glad to have a vaccine.”
That includes Kelly Houlihan, a nurse who works at Sparrow’s intensive-care unit for COVID patients who was among the workers who were vaccinated Thursday.
Houlihan threw his hands in the air in triumph after receiving his shot.
“I’m looking forward to this being the beginning of the end of the pandemic,” he said. “Hopefully, the first step towards getting getting rid of this thing.”
Read more on MLive:
Trucks carrying Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine depart Michigan facility for distribution
COVID-19 vaccine is a ‘blessing,’ says first West Michigan doctor to receive a dose
Michigan Medicine to begin vaccinating health care workers this week
Covenant HealthCare staff roll up sleeves for first round of COVID-19 vaccine in Saginaw