Frontline heath care workers across South Dakota are getting their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The state received 7,800 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
A Monument Health nurse prepares the first Pfizer vaccines for emergency room physicians who treat COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Steve Dick is the first to receive the vaccine in Rapid City. Dick is the director of Emergency Medicine at Monument Health. He s wanted to get the vaccine in solidarity with the ER team and all they’ve gone through since March.
“I got in my car, to drive here, and it really hit,” Dick says. “This is monumental. What a momentous occasion. The tide is changing, so to speak. Again, want to represent an amazing team of frontliners who, every day, have put themselves in harm’s way to be there.”
Monument Health in Rapid City received 975 doses. But most of the 7,800 initial vaccine doses will be released from Sioux Falls. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses, 21 days apart from each other.
Dr. Shanka Kurra is the vice president of medical affairs at Monument Health. He says they’re taking a phased approach in distributing the vaccine to hospital staff. Kurra says the hospital system expects most frontline staff to receive the vaccine this month.
“All 975 vaccines will be given within this week,” Kurra says. “The plan to complete all of them. That’s our directive. We’ve been told to exhaust all of them, and then wait for the weekly supplies.”
The vaccine is 95 percent effective at keeping people from getting sick with COVID-19, but it’s not yet clear if it will stop someone from spreading the virus if they’ve been exposed. Health officials say it will continue to be important to wear a mask, stay distanced from others and wash washing hands frequently.
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