Atlanta hospital receives COVID-19 vaccine, heralds ‘beginning of the end’

By Lacy Gross

Atlanta Memorial Hospital, CHRISTUS Health, received 100 doses of COVID-19 vaccine Monday, Dec. 28, to administer to front-line healthcare workers and first responders in Cass County.

Atlanta received 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine which is being shipped to rural areas throughout Texas because it does not require the extreme cold storage of its Pfizer counterpart which delivered to Texarkana hospitals last week. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccine both require two doses with Pfizer requiring its second dose at 21 days and Moderna at 28 days.

The Moderna vaccine will be administered to 100 of the county’s first responders and front-line healthcare workers. The recipients will receive a second dose in 28 days. The additional doses need ed should deliver just prior to administration of the second dose.

According to Francine Francis, Director of Marketing, CHIRSTUS Health, the facility learned on Dec. 17 that the Moderna vaccine was en route to Atlanta and delivered Monday morning.

“We’re seeing this as the beginning of the end of COVID because if everyone starts to get vaccinated and follows the masking, social distancing and washing rules, we’ll start seeing the end to this” Francis said, “The next steps after these first couple of tiers are like nursing homes then people over 75, then others with comorbidities and risk factors. We’re starting with those who are at greatest risk like first responders.”

Francis said they are still unsure of when they will have enough vaccine to cover the population of Cass County.

Loren Robinson, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs at CHRISTUS, said that she wants to make sure that her frontline workers are taken care of first.

“We’re really at a blessed place in our geographical area, in Texarkana and Atlanta, because we have enough vaccine to be able to cover front line workers and in the coming weeks to be able to start reaching out to patients” Robinson said, “I think that is something that makes us unique as compared to the rest of the country. We see people scrambling and trying to pay for a vaccine, not sure when it’s going to get to patients. We’re going to be able to offer that in this area a lot faster than other places.”

Robinson said that the public has been reaching out directly to the hospital with inquiries about when they can receive their vaccination.

“I have members of the public calling my office. I’ve got doctors asking me if their parents can get the vaccine. Another thing that was very unexpected is that the specialties societies, people who take care of pregnant women said, ‘you know, we think that this is safe for pregnant women. We think this is safe for women who are breast feeding’ which is huge for the general public and the hospital workforce.”

“Especially for Northeast Texas, I think the next few months is going to look a lot different from other places in the country.”

Dr. Robinson has been with CHRISTUS since Sept. 2019. Prior to her arrival, Robinson lived in Philadelphia where she was the Deputy Secretary of Health for the State of Pennsylvania.

Texas continues to receive doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines and is distributing statewide to hospitals, pharmacies, local health departments, freestanding ERs and other clinics.