White Plains Hospital workers receive first Covid-19 vaccinations

A group of staffers at White Plains Hospital on Dec. 15 received the first dose of the much-anticipated Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

Protocol is for two doses of the vaccine to be given three weeks apart. The FDA cleared the vaccine for use in individuals 16 years of age and older under an emergency use authorization.

The vials of vaccine were transported in special shipping containers designed to keep them at minus 70 degrees Celsius, with 10 degrees either way permissible. Dry ice was packed inside to maintain the low temperature. Special ultra-low-temperature freezers enable the vaccine to be safely stored for up to six months from manufacture. Refrigeration units that are commonly available in hospitals enable the vaccine to be stored for up to five days at two to eight degrees Celsius.

Dr. Michael Palumbo, executive vice president and chief medical officer at the hospital, said, “We are hoping that this vaccine represents the path to the end of the pandemic so we are extremely excited.”

White Plains Mayor Tom Roach greeted the initial administrations of the vaccine with a “hooray.” Roach added, “ It means a lot to me that the people who are getting the first shots are people that did so well in important work during the crisis and I’ll never forget it and the people of the city will never forget it.”

Five frontline medical workers at the hospital were in the first group to be vaccinated. They were: Brian Benjamin, a respiratory therapist; Betsy Amaya and Sharia Mohammed, both registered nurses; and Drs. Frank Quintero and Kristina Krecko.

Benjamin said, “I’m hoping this is the beginning of the end and that’s why I wanted to get the shot today.”

The hospital plans to continue the vaccination of staff members over the next several weeks.

On Dec. 14, the first Covid-19 vaccination in the U.S. took place at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. Sandra Lindsay, who is that hospital’s director of critical care nursing, received the vaccine during a news conference with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Lindsay said, “I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. We’re in a pandemic and so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic and not to give up so soon. There is light at the end of the tunnel but we still need to continue to wear our masks, to social distance.”

The vaccinations began as the number of Covid cases in Westchester and throughout New York state and the U.S. continued to rise. On Monday, Westchester had 560 new cases of Covid detected through tests, bringing the county’s total to 59,991.  There were seven new deaths from the virus in Westchester on Monday, bringing the total to 1,718 in the county, of which 1,575 were Westchester residents.

Statewide, the virus has claimed 28,002 lives. Nationally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported 16,317,000 cases with 300,032 fatalities as of Dec. 15.