5 Healthcare Workers First In Orange County To Receive Vaccine

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —Less than nine months after the first death in Orange County due to COVID-19, the coronavirus vaccine reached a handful of medical professionals. On Wednesday, five volunteers, all employed by St. Joseph's Hospital, were the first in Orange County to receive the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. They will each require a booster of the vaccine in 21 days, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Jeremy Zoch, Chief Executive of Providence St. Joseph in Southern California, explained the process for selecting St. Joseph Hospital as the starting off point for delivery of the new vaccine.

"Earlier this year, Providence treated the first COVID patient in the united states," Zoch said. "It is fitting, then, to give the first vaccination to our caregivers here in Orange County." According to Zoch, all frontline caregivers will have the opportunity to receive the vaccine within the next few weeks. On Wednesday, the hospital drew 5 numbers to determine who would receive the vaccine, in a 2020 style "White Elephant" type of gift exchange, Zoch says.

Michael Lowman, a nurse, was the first in Orange County to receive the vaccine at the Providence St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange.

Four others received inoculations, administered by nurse practitioner Christie Aiello: Song Lee, another nurse at the hospital, Brian Sullivan, in the respiratory therapy department, Dr. Paul Sheikewitz, the first physician to receive the vaccine in the medical staff, and Soledad Mathus, an Emergency Care Nurse, who received the fifth and final dose of the day.

As of this report, coronavirus has reached record highs in Orange County and across the state of California. There are 75 percent more COVID patients hospitalized at present than in the last surge in July, OC Health Care reports.

To date, the biggest challenge for medical professionals, according to Sheikewitz, is "not to get the disease. It's miraculous that so few people have gotten it, and that's why we are so grateful to have this vaccine today."

Soon, all caregivers will have the opportunity to be vaccinated in the stepped vaccination program. It will be "a while" before the vaccine is available for residents across the county, according to Dr. Clayton Chau of the Orange County Health Care Agency.

So far, 10 more hospitals in Orange County have been approved to receive the vaccine, and more are in process. In the meantime, all are encouraged to stay safe, wear masks, and stay socially distant.

"This is the beginning of the end of COVID-19," Chau said during the news conference. "We have all worked so hard to get to this moment, and yet there is much more to be done."

Vaccinating 3.2 million Orange County residents is no small task.

Chau said that he is hopeful that "by late February or March," there will be enough vaccine for all who want to be vaccinated, adding "when it is available for them, as we are going down the tiers."

On Wednesday, UC Irvine received about 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and began administering shots shortly thereafter. They plan to vaccinate 2,000 front line healthcare workers by Sunday.

Dr. Clayton Chau, the director of the Orange County Health Care Agency and the county's chief health officer, said Pfizer's vaccine could be up to 88 percent effective if one receives just one of the two doses. Still, the booster shot makes it 95 percent effective.

However, it is important to emphasize how critical the booster shot is to achieve herd immunity, doctors agreed.

Chau said the county has received about 25,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine and expects about 17,000 booster doses in about two weeks. If Moderna's vaccine is authorized this week, then the county will receive about 32,000 doses of that, Chau said.

The county has about 200,000 healthcare workers, and 12,000 first responders, so many more vaccines are needed to cover them all, Chau said.

UCI also expects to receive the first doses of Moderna vaccine by next week if it is approved as expected, Friday.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach also received 1,950 doses Wednesday, said Dr. Stephanie Chao, Hoag's director of pharmacy services. The hospital plans to begin giving out shots at 6 a.m. Thursday, she said.

Readying the vaccines is a "tricky process," according to Chao. Since Hoag does clinical studies, it had the necessary deep-freeze unit to house the doses, but a larger freezer that can store 15 times more doses is on the way, she said. The vaccine must be thawed out initially in a refrigerator before it is reconstituted into liquid form for vaccination. Hoag hospital has five sessions planned for Thursday to ensure the shots are spaced out and administered on time before they can expire.

"Our goal is to vaccinate 600 healthcare workers," Chao said. "We want to make sure they're all appointment-based, so we don't waste any doses."

Orange County employs approximately 200,000 health care workers and 12,000 first responders, according to the OC Health Care Agency. Many more vaccines are needed to cover them all.

The vaccines can be thawed out at room temperature faster, but it expires in two hours that way, Chao said. If it is thawed in the refrigerator, then it can last for five days, she added. The booster shot is critical in achieving the much-discussed "herd immunity."

Moderna's vaccine will require freezing, but it won't need a special deep freezer, she said.

Supervisors Don Wagner and Doug Chaffee spoke on the first vaccinations on behalf of the OC Board of Supervisors.

Chaffee, who with Supervisor Andrew Do heads the county's vaccine task force, lauded the work that the OC Health Care Agency has done to ensure the delivery and distribution to our health care workers and professionals senior centers and assisted living facilities.

Chau, visibly emotional during the conference, thanked each volunteer recipient, saying, "it's a brand new day."

According to Orange County's Providence St. Joseph's Hospital, Studies show the vaccine is safe and effective.

"Because the initial supply is minimal, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is directing the first doses to certain high-risk health care personnel, as well as residents and patients in long-term care facilities," a spokesperson for Providence St. Joseph's says. "This means, in keeping with CDC recommendations, it is not being offered to the general public at this time. However, we will keep you updated when the vaccine is readily available to broader groups."

Dr. Rod Hochman, president, and CEO of Providence, discussed the momentous occasion, following the FDA advisory committee's review and validation data showing the vaccine to be safe and highly effective.

"This is a major scientific milestone that will help us to curb the spread of a disease that has brought the world to a standstill," Hochman says. "We encourage everyone to get vaccinated when they become eligible because it is a key step in saving lives and ending the pandemic," Providence St. Joseph's Hospital said in the news release. "We recognize this is a personal decision, though, and that many people have questions about the vaccine."

Wednesday's inoculations were the first step on a long road to life as usual.

"I know there's a lot of work to be done still, and this is just the beginning," Chau said. "But to get going on those vaccines, to get them safely in was oddly satisfying and pleasing. We have hope now."

Read more about the coronavirus vaccine:

• Coronavirus.providence.org
• FDA COVID-19 vaccine information
• CDC COVID-19 vaccine information

This report will be updated.