Front-line healthcare workers at Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center have started getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
The hospital received 200 units of the Moderna vaccine Wednesday, eight days after a change of plans took the hospital off the list of medical centers receiving Mississippi’s first wave of shipments of the Pfizer vaccine.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kevin Richardson was among the hospital staffers who got the first shot of the two-dose vaccine. He called it a long-awaited day in a difficult year.
“The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine marks the beginning of a new chapter in this long saga. We have all hoped and prayed for a safe and effective vaccine against this deadly virus. Our prayers have been answered,” Richardson said.
“All of us in healthcare look forward to a day when our emergency rooms are not overcrowded, our ICUs are not at capacity and our nursing homes are no longer hot spots for viral spread. This day will surely come, and the COVID-19 vaccines will be a powerful tool to help all of us reach that day together.”
All 24 of Southwest’s intensive care unit beds have routinely stayed full in the past month. When that happens, the hospital has to divert critically ill or injured patients to other hospitals.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the hospital was treating 15 COVID-19 patients, many of whom were critically ill, with one on a ventilator, Richardson said.
The ICU was again at capacity.
Healthcare workers, especially front line staff and those tending to COVID-19 patients, have been the first to be vaccinated. Nursing home residents will be the next in line.
The Moderna vaccine, unlike the Pfizer vaccine, does not require deep cold temperatures for storage. Like the Pfizer shot, Moderna is a two-dose vaccine.
Patients getting the Moderna vaccine wait 28 days between their two shots.
“As (State Health Officer) Dr. (Thomas) Dobbs has said, the finish line is in sight. Our mission is to get as many of us across that finish line as possible,” Richardson said. “We have what it takes to do this: masks, hand washing, avoiding crowds and now a powerful vaccine. The end is in sight. Let’s get there together.”
There were 12 new COVID-19 cases in Pike County on Wednesday, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health, for a county total of 2,057 since March. Pike County has had 65 deaths attributed to the virus.
Amite County added five new virus cases for 811 total, Franklin County added 13 for 544 total, Lawrence added eight for 891 total, Lincoln added 35 for 2,397 total, Walthall added seven for 932 total, and Wilkinson added five for 507 total.
There was one new COVID-19-related death reported in Walthall County.
