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'LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL' AS PARDEE GIVES FIRST SHOTS

A registered nurse administers a Covid vaccination to Dr. Chris Parsons, director of Pardee's Center for Infectious Disease.

By Andrew Dundas, Published: December 15, 2020

Dr. Chona Reguyal, a primary care provider, received the first Covid-19 vaccination in the region just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, marking the beginning of the end of the pandemic that has ravaged the nation and world since February.

“I’m actually excited! I’m glad to get the vaccine," she said, "I wanted to get it because I wanted to be able to tell my patients that I did get the vaccine.” Dr. Chona Reguyal, a primary care provider, received the first Covid-19 vaccination in the region just before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"This is truly the light at the end of the tunnel and we're very very excited and very very proud" to be the first medical facility to administer the shots, Dr. David Ellis, Pardee's chief medical officer, told the media. 

Pardee Hospital identified the first 584 employees who will be able to get the first Covid-19 vaccinations in Western North Carolina after prioritizing doctors, nurses and housekeeping personnel who are most likely to be exposed to the virus.

Once the hospital identifies the so-called "1A" employees, it sends the list to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The DHHS sends those people an email inviting them to register, Ellis said. Those who get a shot need a second booster shot 21 days later. Pardee expects to use all 975 of the doses it received from Pfizer before moving on to the booster shot. "The government is holding back the second dose," Ellis said.

After months of bad news about the covonavirus, the vaccine's arrival on the Pardee campus and, soon, entry into the upper arms of at-risk doctors and nurses marked a big dose of good news.

"We're very proud and very excited" to be the first medical facility in the mountains to get the shot, Ellis said. "It's been a bad year for everybody. It's different."

Jamie Kirckpatrick, an ICU nurse at Pardee, was second to get the vaccine. “I feel privileged that I was able to get it,” she said and explained that her father recently had a serious heart attack. Given his condition, she said, "Since Covid came along I’m afraid to step foot in my parents’ house.” "This (vaccine) will help get the entire country back to a sense of normalcy if enough people get it."

Pardee requires employees to receive a flu shot, however, since the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine is being released under Emergency Use Authorization and they cannot require hospital employees to recieve it. Ellis said there will be no retribution against employees who refuse the vaccine, though he said, "Everyone talking to me said they wanted it."

"This just changes everything," Ellis said, "to have a sense of security, that they can come to work and are likely not to get this (Covid). It changes everything."

Under normal circumstances, the development of vaccines for Covid-19 could have taken much longer. Ellis said the process has been abbreviated under the Emergency Use Authorization. "It's warp speed," he said, using the term the Trump administration gave to the vaccine development process.

"We don't know the long term side-effects or long-term efficacy," said Ellis. However, he continued, "In terms of the science, I'm confident with the development of the vaccine."

Among the first 10 medical professionals to receive the vaccine was Chris Parsons, medical director for Pardee’s Center for Infectious Diseases, and Crystal O’Dell, RN, director of nursing for the Henderson County Department of Public Health. 

“That felt great,” said Parsons immediately after his vaccination. “To be able to begin the vaccination process here in our community with a vaccine reported to be 95 percent effective is a significant milestone in the course of this pandemic.” 

“The light is still a little ways off,” Parsons said, "We still have to be diligent, but there is no doubt it’s a big landmark in the pandemic."

Pardee’s Chief of Staff, Greg McCarty, MD and primary care provider, Chona Reguyal, MD were also among the first ten to be vaccinated, along with two team members from the Environmental Services department, two Urgent Care providers, and two nurses - one from the Intensive Care Unit and another from the Emergency Department. The first official team member vaccine clinic will begin Tuesday afternoon, with a goal of vaccinating 400 Pardee team members by week’s end.

“Pardee is honored to be among the first 11 facilities in the state to receive the vaccine and begin the vaccination process,”  James M. "Jay" Kirby, II, president and CEO of Pardee UNC Health Care, said in a statement. “This is no doubt a day that each of us will remember and hold dear as we continue to face down this pandemic. Today, we have hope; and today, we are taking steps to protect our community.”

“To move through this first phase of distribution, we began by prioritizing staff according to geographic location within the hospital and clinical settings, as well as our ambulatory and Urgent Care clinics,” Ellis said. “The list we submitted to the NC DHHS Covid-19 Vaccine Management System (CVMS) includes those who are caring for or cleaning areas used by patients with Covid-19 working throughout our organization - our Emergency Department, Respiratory Care Unit (RCU), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Environmental Services department, and all clinical settings.” Ellis notes that the vaccine planning team is doing everything they can to ensure that Pardee’s health care workers who are at risk of COVID-19 exposure are vaccinated as soon as possible.

As a Phase 1a provider of the vaccine, and an “open site” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pardee will also be able to offer the vaccine to those serving on the front lines throughout Henderson County. Pardee is bound by the parameters of the Emergency Use Authorization and federal and state regulations as to who can receive the vaccine in this early phase. 

“We know that our community is eager to see the vaccine distributed and we look forward to being able to do that as more vaccines are available and as the CDC approves subsequent priority groups,” Ellis said. “As we celebrate this milestone in the course of the pandemic, it is important that we all remain vigilant and continue to practice the 3-Ws of wearing a face covering, waiting at least 6 feet apart and washing hands.”