Davis Regional Medical Center administers first COVID-19 vaccines to front line healthcare workers
12/23/2020
With 2020 being deemed the “Year of the Nurse”, Today Davis Regional began to administer the first of the allotment of 200 Moderna vaccines. Vaccinations began shortly after noon with selected individuals and will be given the remainder of the week for scheduled healthcare workers per the established priorities from the North Carolina Department of Health.
“How do you sum up the last 9 months?” said Crystal Levan, ICU nurse as she was among the first ICU nurses at Davis Regional Medical Center to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Joining her with great cheers, social distance and anticipation was fellow ICU nurse Holly Delargy and ICU & Cath Lab Director Teressa Martin.
DeLargy and Levan celebrated their dedication and willingness with each other as this milestone made today will be not one, but two people to kickstart the commitment to science to end this global pandemic. Levan stated, “I love my job. As hard as the last 9 months have been with the unknown, it is phenomenal to be here today. We have been waiting for this moment and today it is here.”
DeLargy followed up behind her with a phrase she coined from the beginning of the pandemic and said “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.”
The Moderna vaccine is a 2- dose series vaccine separated by a 28 day period. The vaccine is administered as an Intramuscular injection in the deltoid muscle. It will take time to distribute the vaccine to a significant part of the population, so until then, it’s critical to follow safe practices including wearing a mask in public, staying 6 feet away from others and frequently washing your hands.
For more Information about this particular vaccine visit the CDC vaccine and immunization website. Although we do not plan to make the vaccine mandatory, we anticipate many of our healthcare workers will choose to be vaccinated. We are focused on educating our employees about the vaccine, including sharing information about safety, efficacy and side effects.
Since March 11, 2020, the pandemic has taken a large toll on the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of frontline workers across the country and the world. DeLargy stated that “nurses have swam against the current and jumped full force into caring for every patient no matter the worldly pushback.”
CEO Josh Snow says to all frontline workers “Thank you for everything that you are doing to care for patients during these unprecedented and challenging times. Your safety and the safety of patients is our continuous goal & highest priority.”
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