EVANSVILLE — Needles. That's the antidote to feelings of helplessness, frustration and fear sown by COVID-19, said Ascension St. Vincent Evansville employees who took the hospital's first vaccination needles Thursday night.
But distribution problems have already popped up, said St. Vincent Pharmacy Director Don Julian. Speaking at the scene of Thursday's vaccinations, Julian said there may not be as many needles in action in the weeks ahead as had been anticipated. That means a little more uncertainty for St. Vincent and the other roughly 50 hospitals and clinics statewide who are getting the earliest doses intended for frontline health care workers.
Julian said the Indiana State Department of Health told the 50 health care systems Wednesday night that — as of that moment, anyway — the state expected to receive about 25,000 fewer doses next week than it had thought.
ISDH is closely tracking how quickly the hospitals run through their allocations of vaccine, he said.
"When the state figures out what their next allocation will be, they'll calculate how far they can spread that," he said. "They were really noncommittal (Wednesday night) as to when the next shipment will be coming and how many doses will be in the next shipment for everybody. They do proportionally look at your population and how many health care workers work in your area, as well."
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St. Vincent received on Thursday what it thinks will be enough initially for 1,170 doses of the new two-shot vaccine developed by biotech firm Pfizer and the German company BioNTech. It began administering those doses to health care workers 12 hours a day, seven days a week starting bright and early at 6:30 a.m. Friday.
St. Vincent probably will get at least the same 1,170 doses next week, Julian said, but it depends on how much the state gets. The situation changes every day. Just Thursday, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration endorsed the nation's second COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, made in collaboration with the U.S. government by biotechnology company Moderna.
Going from defense to offense
But those potential problems will be addressed in the days ahead. Thursday night's vaccinations of a test group of six St. Vincent employees were about shifting from defense to offense against COVID-19.
The employees were the first local St. Vincent health care workers to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Brian Kessler has been scared to death throughout the pandemic that he would bring COVID-19 home to his wife, a teacher, and their four children. Kessler, director of respiratory therapy at St. Vincent, goes through the same routine that has come to mark health care workers fighting COVID all over the country — he strips off his scrubs in the garage, puts them in a washing machine and jumps into the shower.
Thursday night's vaccinations held enormous emotional significance for Kessler.
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"I'm glad it's here; I'm glad you guys (reporters) are here, too," he said. "It gives me hope; kind of a light at the end of the tunnel. Protection, safety for people."
The vaccinations came almost nine months to the day after Vanderburgh County's first coronavirus case emerged on March 19 — and more than eight months after Stanley Emerson Turner II became the first local resident to die in the pandemic on April 6.
Since that time, 173 more lives have been lost in Vanderburgh County alone — including a one-day record of 14 reported Tuesday. More than 13,400 COVID-19 cases have been reported locally.
The advent of vaccines gives Kessler hope that the nation may finally be turning the tide against COVID-19.
"I can't wait for it to be available to everyone," he said. "That'd be nice."
Demand for the vaccine has been high
Thursday's vaccinations at St. Vincent may have helped mark a new beginning locally, but they were not the first local immunizations.
Deaconess Health System administered the first public local COVID-19 vaccinations to its employees on Wednesday. Deaconess said earlier in the week that it would receive nearly 2,000 doses of the vaccine this week, with about 10,000 more expected in the next two weeks. The federal government is holding back all second doses of the two-shot vaccine, meaning the local hospital system will not have to set aside half of its initial doses for second shots.
Deaconess is one of five pilot hospital systems in Indiana — Community Hospital in Munster, Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, IU Health Methodist in Indianapolis and Parkview Health in Fort Wayne are the others — who received the first doses.
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Deaconess said Wednesday that 633 people were on its schedule to receive the first shot on that first day. The work will continue seven days a week — not on Christmas Day — as long as Deaconess continues to receive the necessary vaccine, health system officials said.
Because the vaccine has only been designated for emergency use by the FDA, hospitals are not able to mandate their employees get it. Still, demand for the vaccine is high. ISDH chief medical officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said this week more than 46,000 frontline workers in the state have registered to get vaccinated. The vaccine's two doses are to be delivered three to four weeks apart.
Fewer doses next week, more doses this week
There may be fewer doses available next week than had been anticipated, but the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine that arrived this week has proven more plentiful than expected.
As boxes of vaccines began arriving at medical facilities, hospital pharmacists around the nation have discovered some of the glass vials assumed to hold five doses contained enough for a sixth — or even a seventh — person to be immunized.
Pfizer has said it has manufactured enough vaccine for at least 25 million doses — enough for 12.5 million people, given the requirement for two shots — to the United States before the end of 2020, but federal officials have given it out conservatively, dispensing only about 3 million doses beginning this week.
St. Vincent had thought, and announced to the public, that it would receive 975 doses this week. Julian said it actually amounted to the 1,170 that he disclosed Thursday night.
Deaconess also got more than the nearly 2,000 doses it expected.
"We are getting more doses due to overfill from the manufacturer," Deaconess spokeswoman Pam Hight said in an email Thursday. "Deaconess will administer all doses we are able (to) get from the vials.
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"This should result in approximately 390 additional doses."
Deaconess administered 657 vaccines Tuesday and Wednesday and had another 682 scheduled for Thursday, Hight said.
In Indiana, the relatively scarce vaccine is being given first to the ISDH-designated "Phase 1A" — a large category including doctors, nurses, long-term care staff, cafeteria workers and other health care staff — who may be exposed to COVID-19 patients or infectious material.
ISDH said in a website post this week that it expects Phase 1A to last "at least through January."
"This is dependent on how much vaccine we receive and when other vaccines become available," the state agency wrote.
Health and medical experts have said a vaccine won’t be widely available enough to immunize every American who wants one until well into 2021. They also say the use of extra doses means hospitals must be sure there will be enough of the vaccine to give the necessary second shot to vaccinated individuals.
Some people who weren't scheduled showed up for the vaccine
The Moderna vaccine appears headed to Vanderburgh County soon.
“We should be in line to get that very rapidly, and we do have storage for that vaccine,” County Health Officer Dr. Robert Spear told the Vanderburgh County Health Board Thursday.
While Wednesday's initial distribution of vaccine to health care workers at Deaconess Gateway Hospital went “very smoothly,” Spear said, there were a few instances of people showing up to get vaccinated who weren’t scheduled.
The path ahead may be uncertain, but board member Dr. Maria Del Rio Hoover said the seven-member body's mission is clear: It must advocate for vaccines.
"We need to be promoters of the community getting the vaccine,” Del Rio said. “Maybe get a picture taken after the second dose or a week after to say we’re fine to assuage the fears and concerns.”
Staff writer John Martin contributed to this report.