Jeff Davis Hospital Ready For Vaccine

Jeff Davis Hospital CEO Barry Bloom said this week he expects the hospital will receive its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine in the next week or so as, currently, the larger hospitals in the state are of first priority.
While Bloom said he probably knows about as much as the general public about the pending distribution of the vaccine, he said the Governor and state officials are deciding procedures as they relate to priority.
Bloom said it has been decided the first responders and health care workers will be the first to receive the vaccine locally. Once those workers get their shots, then the second priority will be the elderly and people in long term health facilities.
The hospital will be required to document that those two priorities are completed before moving to people who are neither first responders, health care workers, elderly, etc. The first to receive shots will be those who are deemed at high risk as determined by state officials.
“Then we keep going category to category before we get to the general public,” Bloom said.
Bloom added that the vaccine comes with challenges for the hospital, such as temperature control, but the hospital has plans in place, “and we’ll be ready.”