COVID vaccine arrives in NC; first shot goes to Charlotte doctor
COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Charlotte, days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use.
Atrium Health received its first shipment of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccines Monday morning, the health care system said on Twitter.
Atrium has been preparing for this day for months, chief medical officer Gary Little told reporters Monday afternoon.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” Little said. “…This is the Super Bowl for us.”
Atrium, Charlotte’s largest hospital system, has already started vaccinating health care workers.
Atrium’s medical director of infection prevention, Dr. Katie Passaretti, became the first person to get an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine in North Carolina, Atrium said on Twitter Monday.
Passaretti called the experience “a moment of hope.”
In a video released by Atrium, Passaretti said she had no serious side effects from the vaccination.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” she said. “I feel perfectly fine. I’ve had no issues with the vaccine.”
The first vaccinations at Atrium are being offered to Atrium employees in “high priority, patient facing areas,” like the emergency department and medical intensive care unit, and to Atrium providers who are at a higher risk for COVID-19 exposure, according to the hospital system. The hospital system said roughly 15 employees would receive vaccinations Monday.
Atrium has not announced how many vaccines it received in the first shipment. Little said the hospital system has received a small portion of its first allocation of the Pfizer vaccine, and expects to receive additional doses of the vaccine later this week.
The Pfizer vaccine requires two injections spaced three weeks apart. But that doesn’t mean hospital systems are saving half of the currently available doses for a later time — Little said the state will continue to ship hospital systems the additional doses required for a second injection.
More doses of the vaccine are expected to come to Charlotte soon. Novant Health expects to receive the vaccine Thursday, spokeswoman Megan Rivers said in a statement.
“We’re prepared to immediately begin administering the vaccine, starting with those in Phase 1 of the prioritization framework,” the Novant statement said.
Novant expects to receive nearly 7,000 doses from the state in its first allocation, according to the hospital system.
Novant has the capacity to store around 500,000 vaccine doses in the hospital system’s ultra-low temperature freezers, and more than 1 million doses at frozen temperatures, Rivers said.
Atrium has capacity to store around 300,000 doses of the vaccine, Little said Monday.
Health care workers will be the first to receive vaccines under North Carolina’s vaccine plan.
Mecklenburg County Public Health expects to receive coronavirus vaccines next week, director Gibbie Harris said Friday.
During Phase 1 of the state’s vaccination plan, the health department will be responsible for vaccinating Mecklenburg County EMTs and paramedics along with public health staff, Harris said. The health department will also vaccinate some long term care facility residents and staff.
Some health experts have worried public hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccinations could limit the effectiveness of the vaccines. An Elon University Poll released last week showed only 40% of North Carolinians surveyed said they would get the vaccine.
Now, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles is joining with Novant Health to publicly encourage Charlotte residents to get the vaccine as soon as they’re eligible, according to the hospital system.
“As a leader, and a person of color, I believe it’s important to declare my commitment to get the vaccine because I am confident that it is safe and will be effective,” Lyles said in a statement released by Novant. “And while I will get my vaccine after health-care workers, first-responders and our community’s most vulnerable citizens, I am making my plans known today in an effort to help others have the same confidence in the science.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 12:08 PM.
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