EVANSVILLE — The day before Deaconess Health System's planned public kickoff to its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the local provider doled out information about its plans with a teaspoon.
Deaconess responded to questions about the vaccine intended at first for frontline health care workers with a five-sentence email — but it did say it expects 5,000 more doses next week and 5,000 more the week after that. Deaconess also said 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.
But other than that, new information was scarce. One of Deaconess' five sentences said what has been known for days — that it would receive about 2,000 doses of vaccine to start this week — and another said everything is subject to change.
The vaccine manufactured by biotech firm Pfizer, the first to get emergency federal approval, did arrive at Deaconess as expected Tuesday morning. The hospital system declined to say whether that happened at Deaconess Gateway in Warrick County or Deaconess Midtown in Downtown Evansville, citing security concerns swirling around the vaccine.
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A request to photograph the arrival of vaccine was denied in lieu of photos of Deaconess pharmacy leaders receiving and unpacking it that were submitted by Deaconess. The hospital system said it happened at roughly 9:30 a.m.
The first local vaccines will be administered Wednesday morning.
Deaconess invited news organizations on Monday to cover the vaccinations of health care workers, which are set for 7 a.m. in a large lobby area at Deaconess Gateway.
Wednesday will bring first local vaccinations
In Kentucky on Monday, the state's first vaccination was something of a public event.
Declaring "let's knock this thing out," Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer at University of Louisville Health, became the first person in the Bluegrass State to receive a dose of the new COVID-19 vaccine.
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Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was on hand to watch as Smith, who is a trauma surgeon, two nurses and two other doctors in quick succession were injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine approved just last week for emergency use in patients.
A Deaconess spokeswoman said no elected officials have been invited to Wednesday's initial vaccinations, the health system preferring to let the spotlight rest on front-line health care workers.
They are the ones in the Indiana State Department of Health-designated "Phase 1A" — a broad category that includes doctors, nurses, long-term care staff, cafeteria workers and other hospital 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.
Deaconess has not been specific about its own longer-term plans, saying so much is yet unknown and subject to change.
Deaconess is one of five pilot hospital systems in Indiana — Community Hospital in Munster, Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, IU Methodist in Indianapolis and Parkview Health in Fort Wayne are the others — who are in line to receive the first doses. Additional doses are expected to be available at a total of 50 hospitals statewide by the end of next week.
Dr. James Porter, president of Deaconess Health System, told the Courier & Press on Dec. 4 that Deaconess expects to vaccinate more than half of its roughly 9,000-person workforce.
If that is about 5,000 people, it would be a total of 10,000 doses needed ultimately. And that would be just for Deaconess employees. Asked Tuesday roughly how many doses Deaconess believes ultimately will be needed, the health system responded with a one-liner.
"We feel we will have enough vaccines to vaccinate the employees that want to be vaccinated," Deaconess said in its email.
Deaconess says local leaders have embraced the vaccine
Deaconess requires employees to get the flu vaccine, but this is a different story.
Because the vaccine has only been designated for emergency use by the FDA, hospitals are not able to mandate that their employees get it. Still, demand for the vaccine is high, with more than 20,000 Indiana health care workers registered to receive the first dose. The vaccine requires two doses delivered three to four weeks apart.
Leaders in local health care, medical, education and government have embraced the vaccine, Porter said this month.
"(They) have said, 'I want to get mine, and you can take my picture doing it if you want to,'" Porter said.
Porter, who joined Deaconess in 2000 as an adult and pediatric hospitalist, said he won't be among the first to receive the vaccine. He isn't included in "Phase 1A."
"I'm going to get (the vaccine) as soon as I can," he said. "I'm going to follow the state’s guidance about who should receive it first — but I’ll be right there in line to get mine when they tell me it’s right for me to do it.”