GALESBURG, Illinois — Galesburg Cottage Hospital is vaccinating frontline healthcare workers with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, after receiving on Wednesday a shipment from the Strategic National Stockpile in Peoria.
"Historically, it’s an exciting day," said Chief Nursing Officer Pam Davis. "Our staff has been on the frontline dealing with this since March, and for us to offer a way to maybe get on the other side of this pandemic, protect our staff, it’s very exciting to be involved with this."
Arriving with an escort courtesy of the Knox County Sheriff's Office, staff quickly opening the ultracold shipping box and taking inventory of the 150 dose allotment to the hospital.
"And I’m really thrilled to be a part of it, it will definitely go down as a very memorable day in my career," said Pharmacy Director Natalee Blackford.
Blackford could be seen reconstituting the vaccine and preparing it for injection into the arms of doctors, nurses and other staff.
"For a lack of a better way to put it, we are getting like a concentrate, it’s actually in a liquid form already," Blackford said.
Infection Control Nurse Melissa Henson said a "strategic flow" of staff received the vaccine on the first day. After a 15-minute observation, most of the healthcare workers have the following day off in case of side effects.