Historic day as the first person in Tarrant County receives coronavirus vaccine
The first person in Tarrant County has been vaccinated with the long-awaited coronavirus vaccine.
Chandler Cummins, an ICU nurse at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest in Fort Worth, was the first to take the dose of the new vaccine, which arrived at Texas Health Resources on Tuesday, said spokesperson Amanda Uffman. Texas Health Resources received its allotment of 5,850 doses at its central pharmacy in Arlington on Tuesday. Texas Health Resources has more than 20 hospitals across North Texas.
The vaccines were then taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest in Fort Worth, where vaccinations began. Barclay Berdan, Texas Health chief executive officer, said about 50 people will be vaccinated as a test run, but by the end of the week, he hopes over 5,000 vaccines will be administered.
Like the state has outlined, the hospital system’s initial allocation will be used for front-line caregivers, health care workers in emergency departments and health care workers in COVID-19 units. The state’s distribution plan prioritizes front-line health care workers and nursing home workers and residents of long-term nursing homes.
“Our team members are exhausted from nine months of providing intensive care to seriously ill patients with COVID-19, but despite that weariness, they continue to care for patients and their families each day,” said Barclay Berdan, Texas Health chief executive officer.
But, while this is an exciting time for Berdan and the fight against COVID-19, he said his hospitals are still filling up and he fears how many hospitalizations there could be after the holiday season.
“We’ve still got some very big battles to fight,” he said.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the arrival of the vaccine should give people hope that the end of the pandemic is near. Going back to normal won’t happen overnight, but now there is a weapon to fight COVID-19, he said.
More shipments of the vaccine are expected in the coming weeks as the state is expected to receive more than 1.4 million doses for December, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
This story was originally published December 15, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
