MIDLAND, Texas — Help is on the horizon. The COVID-19 Pfizer Vaccine is heading to Midland. Only 109 hospitals in the state are getting the vaccine and Midland Memorial is one of them.
The hospital will be the first hospital in West Texas to distribute the vaccine, and distribution could begin as early as next week.
“It’s pretty exciting that we will be one of the first in the state and country to get the vaccine," Kit Bredimus, Chief Nursing Officer, Midland Memorial Hospital, said.
Here's what else we know:
Midland Memorial will receive enough vials to vaccinate 1,950 people.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two shots total, each shot three weeks apart.
“As we go into this, we know that those two doses are pretty efficient," Bredmius said. "But we don’t know how long that antibody response will last and if people will need to have boosters or whatnot.”
But who exactly is going to be getting it?
“Right now they’ve said it’s going to be healthcare workers and nursing homes but they haven’t really clarified who qualifies for it," Bredimus said.
The chief nursing officer has questions about the distribution process, too.
"Is it going to be healthcare workers who are working with COVID patients? Is it going to be anyone that interacts with patients? The same thing with nursing homes...is it going to be residential nursing home facilities? Assisted living homes?”
Those details are expected to be ironed out Tuesday during a meeting with the state.
Bredimus tells me most of his staff is confident in the vaccine and are eager to get it.
The vaccine is not a requirement. Employees are able to opt-out of it.
Some employees will not be eligible for the vaccine including those who have tested positive for the virus within the past three months, are under the age of 18, or are pregnant.