Virtua Begins 1st Round Of COVID Vaccinations, Gets 2nd Shipment

Virtua Health System received its second round of coronavirus vaccines on Tuesday, and had vaccinated about 2,500 employees as of Tuesday morning, Virtua Health Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Reg Blaber said.

“I volunteered to give the vaccine all weekend, and people were in tears,” Blaber said during a news conference along with Camden County Freeholder Jeff Nash and Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1). “They tell me this is the first step in getting back to normal.”

Virtua began vaccinating its frontline staff on Friday. The first teams to receive vaccines were those with the highest inherent risk for exposure to the coronavirus, due to their work. These include teams from emergency medical services (e.g., paramedics and EMTs), emergency departments, and intensive care units.

New Jersey Coronavirus Updates: Don't miss local and statewide announcements about novel coronavirus precautions. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters.

Virtua has about 13,000 patient-facing employees, and 3,000 of them are really high risk, Blaber said. Virtua is vaccinating patients at a pace of about 800 people a day, he said. Additional shipments will come every week, and the health system expects that all its employees will be vaccinated.

“This is an encouraging, historic day for Virtua and the South Jersey community,” Virtua Health President and CEO Dennis W. Pullin said in a release. “I’m extremely proud of the extraordinary efforts by so many Virtua colleagues to make today’s vaccine logistics possible. This much-anticipated milestone is exactly the boost we needed to enable us to better protect the lives and health of countless people across our region and beyond.”

“This is a crucial step toward ending the pandemic,” Blaber said. “The vaccine is an essential tool to defeat this highly contagious, deadly virus.”

Residents should continue to wear masks and follow social distancing measures as set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to prevent the spread of the virus.

One reason is that it’s not clear if people can still transmit the disease despite getting the first dose of the vaccine. The vaccine is distributed in two doses, 21 days apart.

Blaber said that during the clinical trials, there were people who still got symptoms after getting the first dose, but it wasn’t clear if they could still get the disease. At the time that a resident gets the first shot, they register and are reminded of when it is time to get the second shot, according to officials.

Blaber reminded residents it doesn’t matter which vaccine they get. Virtua received the Pfizer vaccine because it has an arctic-level, subzero freezer in place to store the vaccine.

Blaber said the state will ask hospitals to stick with one vaccine that it distributes, just as people are asked not to mix the vaccines that they get. He also said anyone who has already had the coronavirus should still get the vaccine, but they should allow others who haven’t had the virus to get the vaccine first.

Virtua is prioritizing vaccines for entire departments, including all members of those departments — environmental services workers to technicians to physicians and nurses.

The CDC has instructed that health care workers be among the first people nationwide to receive vaccines.

“Health experts agree that we must ‘care for the caregivers,’ so they can stay well and continue caring for the sick,” Blaber said.

Blaber said Virtua expects to begin vaccinating the next group of people, including frontline workers and those who are at high-risk, in January. He estimates that the general public will begin receiving vaccinations in March or April. Read more here: Here's Who's Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine First In New Jersey

Last week, Cooper Health became one of the first six hospitals in the state to administer the coronavirus vaccine that had been developed by Pfizer. Since then, Virtua and Deborah Heart and Lung Center were also authorized to distribute the vaccine. Read more here: No Severe Reactions To COVID Vaccine In South Jersey: Officials

Additionally, the Moorestown Mall has been named as one of six vaccine distribution megasites statewide. Read more here: Moorestown Mall To Serve As COVID Vaccine 'Megasite,' Murphy Says

The Department of Health is also looking to get the vaccines distributed in pharmacies and urgent care centers, Blaber said.