DCH Physician Receives Tuscaloosa's First Coronavirus Vaccination

TUSCALOOSA, AL. — History was made in a small metal building on the DCH Regional Medical Center campus Thursday as one of the hospital's physicians became the first local recipient of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

Dr. Blake Lovely, who serves as medical director for emergency department services with DCH Health System, was given the vaccine by registered nurse Lynn Morrison in the new remote testing facility recently opened on the hospital's campus. The site will now be used as a drive-through location for vaccinations, which will initially only be available to front line healthcare workers and first responders during the first phase of the vaccine rollout.

Click here to subscribe to our daily email newsletters and breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices for free. You can also support local journalism by donating as little as $5 a month to become a supporting member or by downloading our free Patch mobile app.

Lovely explained the Pfizer vaccine will be administered in two rounds of shots scheduled exactly three weeks apart, with the first achieving a 55% immunity rate after about a week before rising to 95% efficacy following the second shot.

"For the doctors getting it, this is all stuff we’ve studied and researched and we’ve been following the vaccine process all along," he said. "To us, it's a no-brainer and you look at a disease that kills 1.8% of people that get it and a shot that may give me some body aches the next day, the risk benefits are clear."

The vaccine comes not a moment too soon for DCH Health System, which is in the process of weathering a surge in hospitalizations following Thanksgiving and the community spread of the virus impacting its staff. DCH officials on Tuesday informed the Tuscaloosa City Council that 130 DCH staffers were out due to having to quarantine, which was up from 108 on Monday.

Those receiving the first round of vaccinations will be monitored for adverse reactions for 15 minutes after receiving the shot, but Lovely pointed out that side effects, such as headaches and body aches, were likely the day after the second round and recommended those receiving it to take off of work the day after receiving the second shot.

He then said the hope was to vaccinate 100 frontline healthcare workers on Thursday and another 100 on Friday. The hospital system announced this week it had received just short of 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, with the Moderna vaccine likely to receive emergency use authorization on Thursday.

Hospital officials also said the vaccinations are by appointment only and distribution points are currently booked up due to the high-demand in anticipation of the vaccine.

"Hopefully we can start ramping that up as we get more efficient in the process," Lovely said.

Lovely and Morrison both expressed pride in their involvement with the area's first vaccination, in addition to hopes that widespread anxiety over the vaccine will subside as the public watches physicians take the shots.

"I'm super excited and I think we’ve got a lot to offer to our community and our first responders initially," Morrison said. "So I'm really excited to see how this impacts COVID."

Follow Patch here for updates or on Facebook and Twitter.