Greenwood Leflore Hospital expects to inoculate 200 of its workers Tuesday with a COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccines, manufactured by Moderna, are the first to make it to the Greenwood hospital. They were delivered Monday. More doses are expected to come each week afterward.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Moderna vaccine last week for distribution. Developed in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, it is the second vaccine to gain FDA approval to ward off the virus that has claimed nearly 320,000 lives in the nation.
The Moderna vaccine requires two shots, an initial inoculation and a booster four weeks later.
Because early supplies of the vaccines are limited, they are being reserved initially in the U.S. for health care workers and those who work or live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
The Greenwood hospital, as it phases in the vaccinations, is targeting first those employees with the most exposure to COVID-19 patients.
Although the vaccine is voluntary for hospital employees, they are being strongly encouraged by the administration to get the shot while continuing other preventive measures.
“The vaccine will build defense against the virus by providing an added layer of protection for our employees, our families, our friends, and our community,” CEO Jason Studley wrote in a message posted to the hospital’s Facebook page Monday. “Getting back to normal will take more than just getting vaccinated. It is vital that we all continue to wear masks covering our noses and our mouths, continue social distancing measures, and wash our hands often.”
Last week, the hospital began surveying its employees as to whether they would take the vaccine. The workers’ receptiveness to being vaccinated is unclear.
“The survey results are an ever-changing number and are not being disclosed at this time,” Christine Hemphill, a hospital spokeswoman, said Monday.
Hemphill did say, however, that the hospital “easily signed up” enough employees to exhaust the first 200 doses.
The Moderna vaccine requires two shots, with the booster given four weeks after the initial vaccination.
The arrival of the vaccines comes during a national surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths that health officials attribute in part to social gatherings at Thanksgiving. They fear that the surge could be compounded in coming weeks with the anticipated but strongly discouraged holiday get-togethers at Christmas and New Year’s.
As of Monday morning, the Greenwood hospital was nearing capacity at its 14-bed intensive care unit dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients. It was taking care of 13 patients, according to Hemphill, six of whom were on ventilators to help them breathe.
Leflore County and neighboring Carroll County both have an elevated rate of infection but less than the state average.
For the week ending Saturday, Leflore County averaged 5.47 new cases of COVID-19 daily per 10,000 residents, according to the data tracked by the Brown School of Public Health. The rate was 6.32 in Carroll County and 6.80 statewide.
The two counties, however, remain in Brown’s highest risk, or red, category, as do Mississippi’s other 80 counties.
•Contact Tim Kalich at 581-7243 or tkalich@gwcommonwealth.com.
