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With a New COVID-19 Vaccine Shipment, Mount Nittany Will Expand Vaccinations to More Health Care Workers

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Mount Nittany Health has expanded its COVID-19 vaccination program to more health care workers after receiving its first shipment of Moderna’s vaccine, hospital officials said on Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, Mount Nittany received its initial shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 and administered it to its frontline providers and staff.

With the Moderna vaccine, the health system will continue vaccinating its employees and medical staff but also will begin administering it to community providers not affiliated with Mount Nittany based on availability and Centers for Disease Control and Department of Health guidelines.

Those eligible to receive the vaccine will be contacted directly and will include health care workers from Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Centre County emergency medical personnel, physicians, dentists and school nurses. Mount Nittany has received 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

“We are still in a phase where supply is extremely limited, and we can only offer vaccinations to healthcare workers,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nirmal Joshi said. “We are pleased to be able to take this additional step in vaccinating another tier of frontline workers with the vaccine.”

Danielle Sheffler, of Snow Shoe EMS, receives the COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020 at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Photo provided

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are beginning to receive COVID-19 vaccines through a federal government program. Centre Crest administrator Andrew Naugle said last week that the Bellefonte facility is expected to begin vaccinations on Jan. 4.

Mount Nittany Health applied for vaccines for both the medical center and its physician group practices. The medical center was one of 87 hospitals in Pennsylvania approved to receive the state’s first shipments of the Pfizer vaccine based on cold storage requirements (minus 76 to minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit).

The medical center received 195 vials in that shipment, for what was expected to be 975 doses. But like many other hospitals around the country, Mount Nittany discovered extra doses were included in the shipment, allowing for the vaccination of 1,223 providers and staff. 

Joshi said on Dec. 18 that once Mount Nittany received the Moderna vaccine — which can be stored at regular freezer temperatures — the health system would further expand its vaccinations but at the time had not yet received direction from the state on how to provide it to health care workers outside of the hospital.

Bob Leon, of Centre Lifelink EMS, receives the COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020 at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Photo provided

The Department of Health has a phased distribution plan, with health care workers and long-term care facilities at the front of the line for the limited first phase. From there it will go to other first responders, critical workers and individuals with the highest risk. The second phase includes a broader scope of critical and health care workers and high risk conditions. The third phase will distribute the vaccine to the general population.

When it will become available more widely throughout the community is not yet known. 

“It might be spring into summer before we have enough vaccine received from the pharmaceutical companies to immunize the general public,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said on Monday.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently said he expects the vaccine should be available to the average citizen around April, and if enough people are vaccinated the U.S. should begin to see herd immunity by the summer.

Joshi said he does not yet know when the vaccine might be distributed beyond health care workers locally.

“We have received no guidance yet on when we can expect a sufficient quantity of vaccine to be able to vaccinate others in the community, but we will alert the public through the media, social media and other communications channels as soon as we have that information,’ Joshi said. ‘We have seen no significant side effects among those who have been vaccinated and encourage as much participation as possible as supplies increase and additional members of the public become eligible for the vaccine.”

While Joshi has called the first availability of the vaccine a ‘significant’ step, he cautioned that community members need to continue to take preventative measures to help stem infections and hospitalizations.

Mount Nittany Medical Center continues to see increasing numbers of COVID-19 inpatients. As of Dec. 23, the hospital had admitted 173 COVID-19 patients, already more than the 143 admitted in November. On Tuesday, Mount Nittany had a record-high 66 COVID-19 inpatients.

‘…[W]e urge the public to follow the recommendations we and other public health authorities have been making: wear a mask, wash your hands frequently and avoid gatherings outside your immediate household,’ Joshi said. ‘The number of COVID hospitalizations at Mount Nittany Medical Center has reached a new high of 66 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 today. We urge everyone need to be responsible and do what they can to stay safe until the vaccine is more widely available.”