JANESVILLE, Wis. — Mercyhealth started vaccinating its frontline workers Tuesday afternoon, just hours after receiving its first shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The Janesville-based health care provider received 1,950 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, 375 of which were delivered to Mercyhealth Hospital and Medical Center-Walworth.
Nursing teams began vaccinating employees at 2:30 p.m. and plan to continue administering vaccines for the next few days, according to a news release. As of 4 p.m., 184 employees had been vaccinated.
Dr. Imdad Ahmed, an electrophysiologist at Mercyhealth, was the first one to get vaccinated at the hospital.
“Today is a historic day for us all,” Ahmed said. “It’s one dose of injection today, that’s one giant leap for mankind.”
Employees who work in high priority, patient-facing areas like the emergency department, medical intensive care units and areas where health care workers are at an increased risk for COVID-19 were given priority.
“Mercyhealth developed comprehensive plans to safely and effectively distribute the vaccine to our staff, as vaccination is the best way to prevent infection from COVID-19,” said Don Janczak, PharmD, system director of pharmacy at Mercyhealth. “Our pharmacy and nursing staff are trained to prepare the vials of vaccines and administer them in a safe an effective manner. Today is a day to celebrate.”
Mercyhealth is one of the latest area health care providers to start vaccinating health care workers. UW Health received the first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine early last week.
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