Hospital starts vaccinating employees

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine has arrived, and employees at Sheridan Memorial Hospital are being vaccinated.

Dr. John Addlesperger, who’s the hospital’s chief of staff, said the vaccine arrived a little after noon Wednesday, and 40 people had been innoculated by Wednesday night. Vaccinations continued Thursday and after a break for the holiday, will continue on Monday.

Two vaccines have been approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration at this time, Moderna and Pfizer, but Dr. Addlesperger said the hospital won’t receive the Pfizer vaccine until after the first of the year.

But, he said, Sheridan Memorial Hospital expects to have a new ultra-cold freezer in another two or three weeks. The freezer is for the Pfizer vaccine, which has to be stored at a temperature between minus-80 and minus-60 degrees Celcius.

The Moderna vaccine also has to be kept cold in storage but at no more than minus-20 Celcius, more like a regular freezer.

Dr. Addlesperger said Sheridan County overall has received around 1,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and the hospital receives a portion of that, but at the time of the interview with Sheridan Media, he couldn’t recall how much of the vaccine the hospital received for employees there.

In past interviews, he said the first to receive the vaccine will be health care workers, in particular those who work directly with COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Addlesperger said he thinks there are no significant differences between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and the hospital will treat them as equivalent in effectiveness against the COVID virus.

There are two other vaccines that Dr. Addlesperger said are getting closer to FDA approval. He said those may be available in another couple of months.