Hospital workers across Northern Santa Barbara County got their first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during the week of Dec. 14 after receiving allotments from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
Marian Regional Medical Center vaccinated its first workers on Dec. 17, a moment that was met with applause and cheers from the hospital staff who have worked day and night throughout the pandemic to keep community members alive.
Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Trees Ritter was the first to receive it.
“Physically it doesn’t feel like anything, but emotionally it’s amazing,” Ritter said.
The 1,950 doses that Marian received will be used to vaccinate as many people as possible, and the hospital isn’t holding back any of the doses for the second round that the vaccine requires.
“Everyone requires two doses, but it will be resupplied enough that we want to get as many people the first dose as possible,” Ritter explained. “The data suggests that most people have about a 90 percent effectiveness after 10 days of their first dose, and the second dose is to supplement that … up to that high effectiveness of about 94, 95 percent.”
Ritter said that the hospital is prioritizing anyone who has contact with COVID-19 patients in the first round of vaccination, which includes emergency room workers, COVID-19 unit health care workers, and those who are involved with other aspects of the care process such as dietary, cleaning, and environmental services.
“Doctors and nurses are not more important than other people who work in our hospital,” Ritter said. “This is a team effort.”
Ritter said that once more doses become available for the general public to begin receiving vaccinations, Marian Regional Medical Center will likely assist with that effort.
“We try to partner with the county Public Health Department wherever we can, so we will continue to act as though we are all in this together, because we know that we are, and will do whatever it takes to help our community,” Ritter said.
Marian’s Dr. Scott Robertson said that while having enough manpower to administer the vaccine will be a challenge, he is confident that Santa Barbara County can get it done.
“There’s never been a mass vaccination effort quite like this in the United States,” he said. “The CDC is also working with other community partners such as Walgreens and CVS to be major distribution hubs for the COVID-19 vaccine. We also expect to use the Pacific Central Coast Health Centers and our urgent care locations … to also be major community partners in ensuring the public has access.”
Cottage Health also began vaccinating health care workers Dec. 17 with the same number of allotted first-round doses.
Cottage infectious disease specialist Dr. David Fisk told the Sun that the hospital is prioritizing emergency room workers since they have the highest chance of contact with an undiagnosed COVID-19 patient. Such potential contact is particularly dangerous because emergency room workers are not able to wear the same amount of personal protective equipment (PPE) that COVID-19 unit workers wear.
“It’s not practical to be wearing full PPE in the emergency department, nor is there enough availability,” he explained. “The highest risk cases and settings aren’t only based on national data, but also based on local experience over the last 10 months.”
Fisk said that within Cottage Health there have been zero confirmed staff acquisitions from working with patients in COVID-19 cohort units, whereas they have seen acquisition in other areas like the emergency room.
A statement from Lompoc Valley Medical Center (LVMC) CEO Steve Popkin said that the hospital also began vaccinating its staff on Dec. 17.
“I have been impressed with the efficiency and effectiveness of the logistics plan for the vaccine distribution,” Popkin wrote in the statement. “I have also been very impressed with, and very thankful for, our LVMC team who put together a very complex vaccination plan, on very short notice, and executed it flawlessly.”
Dignity Health’s Ritter said that as happy as he was to finally be vaccinated, Santa Barbara County is nowhere near out of the woods with the pandemic.
“The vaccine is good news, but I don’t want that to be stressed too much … we’re still in the midst of the worst of this for the vast majority of people,” he said.
This article appears in Dec 24-31, 2020.