COVID-19 vaccines bring relief to healthcare workers

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM)- Healthcare workers have been fighting the Coronavirus for about 11 months now and with the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine, there seems to be a sense of relief within many hospitals and healthcare facilities.

The past couple of months have been very hectic. With the huge uptick in cases in Humboldt County and talks of a Coronavirus vaccine being ready to be distributed.

In the past week or so, the vaccine was approved and distributed across the country and has made its way to our local hospitals and healthcare facilities and there is a feeling of relief for many healthcare workers.

“This has been a game changer for us as physicians as well as our front-line healthcare workers,” said Family Medicine Physician Stephanie Dittmer. “We didn’t anticipate such a quick turnaround from the creation of a vaccine to distribution of the vaccine. This is record breaking time.”

Many healthcare workers have been feeling the fatigue of fighting this virus, and say that the vaccine couldn’t have come at a better time.

“The whole community is really in a new wave with increasing COVID infections throughout and we are just beginning to get severally impacted compared to what happened in March,” said Antoinette Martinez, a Physician at United Indian Health Services. “So, it comes at a good time.”         

The one thing that many healthcare workers want to emphasize is that the fight isn’t over quite yet…and we need to keep our guards up.

“The best present you can give to the people in Humboldt County is to stay home and wait this out. We are going to get to the end of this,” said Kelsey McCulloch, a Nurse Manager at St. Joseph Hospital. “The vaccines are the first steps, it very exciting but we are nowhere near out of the woods yet. We have a long several months ahead of us.” 

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