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Dec. 25-Dec. 31, 2020
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital distributes
COVID-19 vaccine to frontline workers
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital
in Far Rockaway began
administering the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine to its frontline
workers and invited
members of the media take
a look behind the scenes last
week.
St. John’s serves 140,000
residents on the peninsula
and was the first hospital to
confirm a COVID-19 patient
in Queens back in March.
Since then, the community
was one of the hardest-hit in
New York during the peak of
the virus in New York state
and the hospital was at 100
percent capacity through
June.
In a Dec. 15 press conference,
the hospital’s Chief
Executive Officer Gerard M.
Walsh recognized the sacrifices
his staff made during
the pandemic and was thankful
to have the vaccine available
for them, knowing that
they will be protected.
“This certainly will bring
people comfort to know that
they are protected,” Walsh
said.
Chief Medical Officer Dr.
Donald T. Morrish addressed
the community’s healthcare
disparities, which put
residents at greater risk of
COVID-19, with members of
the Black and Latino community
seeing two-times the
COVID-19 death rate as those
of white New Yorkers.
“We are trying to lead the
charge in trying to correct
this disparity and address
healthcare on the peninsula,”
Morrish said.
The hospital’s focus is currently
on administering the
vaccine to its 2,300 frontline
workers. The hospital’s employees,
Frontline workers at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital began to receive the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020.
many of whom live in
the community, are educated
on the COVID-19 vaccine, and
immunization is voluntary.
According to a survey conducted
beforehand, between
40 and 50 percent of the staff
were receptive to the vaccine.
Morrish was one of the 175
patients who already received
the vaccine since it arrived on
Monday. He said he felt great
and hasn’t experienced any
side effects.
“I feel great emotionally;
I feel great physically,” he
said. “I think it is one of those
great opportunities, and I’m
thankful that the vaccine is
available. I’m thankful for all
those individuals that went
before us in the trials to be
vaccinated early to give us
such great data.”
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital
already had the refrigeration
capabilities in place
for storing the vaccine. The
facility has two ultra-lowtemperature
freezers in the
pharmacy capable of storing
Pfizer’s vaccine at the proper
temperature of -70°C. Before
the vaccine is administered,
it is thawed in regular refrigeration
units — a process
that takes about 30 minutes
— where it can be stored for
five days.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
The hospital’s frontline
workers interested in receiving
the vaccine do not have
to schedule an appointment
and can receive the immunization
on a walk-in basis.
After vaccination, they are
observed for 15 to 30 minutes
and checked for side effects.
So far, none of the 175
who have received the vaccine
have not reported any
adverse reaction.
Vol. 8, No. 52 32 total pages
/QNS.COM
