Austin Ascension Seton Frontline Workers Get Coronavirus Vaccine

AUSTIN, TX — Ascension Seton officials said the first vaccines for the coronavirus were administered to it frontline caregivers at four hospitals in the greater Austin area on Thursday.

Staff at four Ascension Seton sites — Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin, Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas at Austin, Dell Children’s Medical Center and Ascension Seton Hays — were given the Pfizer vaccine that arrived on Monday across Texas. Among the first group eligible to receive the vaccines are those serving in emergency departments, COVID-19 units and intensive care units, hospital officials wrote in an advisory.

At Ascension Seton, this team includes frontline emergency department staff who accept and treat COVID patients, ICU doctors and nurses, certified nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, housekeeping and facilities management staff, to name a few - all whose roles place them in the forefront of the battle against COVID, officials noted.

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Ascension Seton provided photographs of its frontline workers receiving the vaccine.

“Caregivers continue to lead by example, and I encourage everyone in the communities we serve to get vaccinated when it’s made available to you,” Dr. Nicholas Steinour, emergency department medical director at Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin, said in a prepred statement. “In particular, we know that the pandemic has disproportionately impacted high-risk, marginalized individuals, and people of color, and it’s important that we do everything possible to demonstrate that the approved COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and work to ensure all people ultimately have access to them.”

While getting vaccinated is not mandatory, health care workers were urged to get inoculated: “We are encouraging our own associates to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to help ensure the continued safety and well-being of them, their families and all those we are privileged to serve, and for the general public to do so once it becomes available,”Andy Davis, president and CEO of Ascension Texas, said in a prepared statement. “We are taking extra steps to ensure these frontline staff have access to the vaccine, and we are working to eliminate social and economic barriers to ensure that they can receive the vaccine as a prioritized group. Vaccination is one of the most effective strategies to protect ourselves and others from COVID-19.”

Earlier this year, officials said, Ascension developed a workgroup to establish an overarching framework for equitable allocation of COVID-19 vaccines for internal and external distribution, acknowledging the need for a coordinated response by our ministry that is guided by our mission and informed by our experience of caring for the communities we serve.

All approved vaccines require extensive research, documentation and closely monitored clinical trials to determine effectiveness and safety before being submitted by pharmaceutical companies for approval, officials noted. When COVID-19 vaccines are available for consumers, officials added, Ascension sites of care will share information about vaccine availability.

Texas received the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday, with four sites receiving 19,500 doses and an additional 19 sites receiving 75,075 doses the next day. Health officials at the time said they endorsed distribution for a second vaccine manufactured by Moderna that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration panel endorsed for emergency use authorization on Thursday, as NBC News and multiple media outlets reported. In all, Texas was allocated 224,250 doses of vaccine to be shipped to 110 providers across the state.