"Just like getting a flu shot": AU Health vaccinates front-line caregivers against COVID-19

As she sat in a chair in a lobby at Augusta University waiting to see whether she had a reaction after getting Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, registered respiratory therapist Angie James said it was much like her routine every year.

"Just like getting a flu shot," she said.

She was among 10 front-line workers who got the first shots of the vaccine after it arrived Thursday morning at AU Health System. AU President Brooks Keel declared it an "extraordinary" moment.

"This marks the beginning of the end of this pandemic" and the slow return to normalcy, he said.

The vaccines are part of the initial wave of 84,825 doses Georgia expected to get from Pfizer and part of the 60,000 that are being distributed to hospitals in the latter part of the week, the Georgia Department of Public Health said. If the Moderna vaccine is also given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration this week as expected, 174,000 doses of that vaccine would be sent to the state next week, the department said.

South Carolina got 42,900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine so far and is expecting 200,000-300,000 doses from both vaccines by the end of the year, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control said.

Sitting just ahead of James in line to get the shot was Dr. Jose Vazquez, chief of infectious diseases at AU, who has been dealing with the pandemic as much as anyone.

"I'm doing it because I am comfortable with the data" on the Pfizer vaccine, he said, plus  "the benefits versus the minimal risk."

After patient care technician LaTonya Davis gave him his shot, he looked up at her and said, "Thank you."

Vazquez said he would not have predicted at the beginning of the year that he would be getting a vaccine against COVID-19 by the end of it 

"It is truly a miraculous time to get this vaccine," he said.

James was thinking about her mother, who is in her 70s and lives with her. James has spent a lot of time in AU Health's COVID-19 units, and though she scrubs down and throws her clothes in the washer the minute she gets home, the vaccine will be "an added layer" of protection for her mother and for her. 

"I've done some research, asked a lot of questions" about the vaccine, she said. "I feel comfortable."

The vaccine is getting to AU when it is needed most, Keel said.

"This vaccine couldn't come at a better time as we hit record levels of new COVID-19 cases in our community," he said. "With the winter months ahead, we know we will need our caregivers safe and healthy so that they can continue their lifesaving care, research, education and innovation."