Medical Workers Are First Long Islanders To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

PATCHOGUE, NY— A day after the first COVID-19 vaccine in New York was administered Monday in Queens to a critical care nurse, live on television, Long Island's first jabs of the long-awaited vaccine were given. Health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic are the first in line to receive the Pfizer-manufactured vaccine.

Long Island is set to get 26,500 doses in the first allocation of the vaccine this month. Nursing home residents and staffs are the next group of residents who will be eligible, after the doctors, nurses, custodial staff, respiratory therapists and others working directly with COVID-19 patients.

Michele Guelfi of Patchogue is one of those nurses. She works in a COVID-19 unit at Southside Hosptial as a nurse practitioner. Guelfi worked through the first wave in the spring as a nurse educator at Peconic Bay Medical Center, even losing a beloved nurse colleague to the virus. Aware of the increasing numbers of positive coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks, Guelfi tells Patch she's grateful the vaccine is here.

"I have been praying, honestly, for this. I knew I would be one of the first in line. Last time around, I had fear and anxiety going to work. I had to hide it, of course, and keep it buried in me while working the units."

Guelfi received the first dose of her vaccine Tuesday. Her former Peconic Bay Medical Center colleagues did as well with 50 employees of the hospital getting their dose that day.

"This vaccine will, I hope, ease that fear. I in no way will feel 100 percent protected but I want to fight this any way I can. I want to be proactive in not transmitting it to more patients."

As for concerns about the vaccine itself, Guelfi is accepting of even possible side effects when considering the bigger picture.

"I believe I might have a reaction but that’s ok. Better a controlled amount of this killer than ending up in our ICUs. This is historical. I’m ready and waiting."