FCH has been notified that we will receive a limited allotment of the Moderna vaccine early next week (week of the 21st). This is pending Moderna’s FDA request for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) that could be granted on Sunday the 20th. This means that FCH will likely be able to begin Phase 1A of the vaccination plan early next week, which is designated for frontline healthcare workers and EMS workers. The following points provide more detail:
- FCH is planning on providing this vaccination early next week (times are to be determined) at the hospital with hospital staff administering it. It is a two shot vaccination – the second shot will be administered at a later date.
- Vaccination is voluntary.
- Phase 1A is broken down into tiers based on a person’s role/potential exposure in directly treating COVID-19 patients. The first tier includes hospital-based nurses, physicians and mid-level providers, therapy staff (PT, OT, Speech, Behavioral Health, Respiratory, Cardiac/Pulmonary), x-ray, and lab staff, as well as EMS workers in Fillmore County.
- Other hospital or healthcare workers not on this list will be prioritized in future tiers of Phase 1A – we anticipate that this will be in the subsequent weeks.
- FCH is working with the Fillmore County Emergency Manager to get a list of EMS who have said they do want to receive the vaccine. FCH is also working with their own staff to identify and schedule employees who want to receive it.
- Long Term Care facilities are partnering directly with pharmacy companies to distribute/deliver their doses for residents and staff. FCH is not involved in this process.
- General public vaccination plans and guidelines have not been announced yet. We anticipate that those details will be coming in the next few weeks – early 2021.
