Frontline health care workers become the first in Rochester to receive the vaccine
After fighting on the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic for months, Phase 1A health care workers at Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center became the first people in Rochester to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
Both Mayo and OMC began their vaccinations on Friday morning, prioritizing critical care staff who have worked with Covid-19 patients throughout the pandemic.
Diane Schwarz, an emergency department nurse, was the first OMC employee to get inoculated. Schwarz says her job has become much more stressful in the past two months, with more patients dealing with severe Covid-19 symptoms than ever before.
As the first nurse to start the two-dose vaccine regimen at OMC, she says the moment marked the first small step towards beating back the surge in cases that has gripped the Midwest in recent weeks.
“It doesn’t just mean safety for me, it’s safety for my family,” said Schwarz. “When you’ve seen someone with Covid, watched them struggle with breathing and see the fear in their eyes, this is a very exciting day. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, to hopefully turn this around and find a way back to normality.”
At Mayo Clinic, six staffers simultaneously received the first doses given out in Olmsted County early Friday morning. It was no accident that those six were chosen, either — in February, five of the six made up the team assigned to treat the first patient considered to be at “high risk” of having the virus.
While that patient did not end up infected, the sixth member of today’s inaugural inoculation group did diagnose the first case of Covid-19 in a Clinic patient in March.
The symbolism of Friday’s event was not lost on the ‘Super Six,’ with nurses, doctors and therapist — all playing different roles on the same care team — represented in the first group to get vaccinated.
“We’re all about teamwork,” said Meera Patel, critical care nurse at Mayo and one of the six to be vaccinated first. “It wasn’t one person getting the shot, it was all six. It’s not just one person that takes care of the patient, it’s a whole team.”
Both hospitals plan to vaccinate dozens of other frontline workers Friday, after receiving the first shipments of the vaccine earlier in the week (OMC on Monday, Mayo on Thursday). The days-long delay in administering vaccines, according to a top Mayo official, was intended to allow for proper scheduling and preparation of the vaccine center.
"The slow, if you will, timetable for initiating these vaccines is being done for good and pragmatic reasons, so that when we do start the vaccinations, we get it right," said Dr. Andrew Badley, chair of Mayo Clinic’s Covid-19 task force, on Tuesday.
Hospitals administering vaccines are required to follow state and federal guidelines on “tiering,” the order in which vaccines are distributed. The first doses will go to those in Phase 1A — health care workers who primarily work with Covid-positive patients, plus residents and workers in long-term care facilities. Widespread public vaccination will likely not happen until mid-2021.
All frontline workers being immunized today (and in the immediate days ahead) will be receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which was approved by the FDA last week. Within the next few hours, FDA officials are likely to authorize the Moderna vaccine for emergency use, allowing 5.9 million additional doses to be distributed across the country.
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
Cover photo: Mayo's ‘Super Six’ as they prepare for their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine / image courtesy pool photographer Joe Ahlquist of the Post-Bulletin
