Health care organizations have begun to inoculate their employees with the new Pfizer Covid vaccine.
Early Friday morning, transplant surgeon Dr. Okechukwu Ojogho became the first Providence Health Care employee to receive an injection. Providence regional CEO Elaine Couture, who’s a nurse, did the honors. The momentous event was captured via Facebook livestream.
Dr. Ojogho had spent the night performing a kidney and pancreas transplant.
Providence doctors, nurses and others who are most at risk of contracting Covid on the job will be vaccinated today [Friday]. The provider says it doesn’t have vaccine right now to inoculate everyone, but will continue the process after it receives its next shipment.
Other providers in the Northwest are going through the same ritual. Washington state Health Department officials say they expect it will take several weeks to vaccinate high-risk health care and long-term care workers. By then, they hope the flow of vaccines into the region will be regular enough that they can move on to the next group of people on the region’s priority list.