DELAWARE/MARYLAND - Beebe Healthcare is the first hospital in Sussex County to begin vaccinating high-risk employees with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
On Wednesday, Beebe received around 600 doses for the first round of vaccines and vaccinated five frontline employees.
"When I was listening to the CDC and FDA and heard that it had been approved for emergency use authorization, I cried,” said Dr. David Tam, President and CEO of Beebe Healthcare.
Beebe's behavioral health nurse Sintia Rodriguez was the first person vaccinated in Sussex County.
“I have been helping out with taking care of patients from the very beginning that were getting sick from the virus. When I’m talking about sickness, they’re really, really getting sick, ending up in the ICU, and some of them actually passing away. A way to prevent them from getting sick or debilitating is getting a vaccine so why not?" said Rodriguez.
At Beebe, the most high-risk will receive the vaccine first, but Dr. Tam says there are some restrictions. If a healthcare worker tested positive for COVID in the last month or few months they will not be first in line for the vaccine since they already have those antibodies.
"In the Navy I learned you let the soldiers eat first, leaders eat last. I'm not a frontline worker, I'm a doctor who works administratively. And I want to make sure the vaccine goes to those who need it the most,” said Dr. Tam.
The Division of Public Health received the remaining 7,800 pre-ordered doses of the vaccine this afternoon. DPH says within 24 to 48 hours most of the doses will be sent to Beebe Healthcare, ChristianaCare, Nemours duPont Hospital for Children, Saint Francis Healthcare, and TidalHealth Nanticoke.
"It's super critical to keep the hospitals and health systems open and that's one of the things we can do with the vaccine,” said Dr. Tam.
Dr. Rosa Matteo, at University of Maryland Shore Regional Medical Center in Easton was the first person to receive the vaccine on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
"UMMC did receive the full 975 [doses], and they decided the right thing to do was to make sure all our sister hospitals that had access to the vaccine is proportionate to the number of staff that work on that hospital,” said Kevin Chapple, the Regional Director of Pharmacy at UM Shore Regional.
Shore Regional received 70 doses in total, gave out 15 on Wednesday, and plans to administer the rest on Thursday and Friday.