MEMPHIS, Tenn. — One of the first places to get the COVID vaccine will be the hospitals, and medical workers will be first in line to get the shot.
WREG-TV spoke with them to find out what some of them think about the vaccines, and how hospitals are preparing for them. Stephanie Christopher is a Registered Nurse at Baptist Memorial Health Care. Her husband and daughter are nurses too.
“As a family, we identify that we are at a higher risk of exposure to COVID and have been talking for a while about how we were excited for a vaccine,” Christopher said.
But she also knows other front line workers have questions.
“I know some nurses are still unsure exactly what they are gonna do, but for me and my family we have been discussing it for quite some time,” Christopher said.
Nationally, many nurses are caught between wanting to do what’s medically necessary to keep everyone safe, but also raising red flags about whether they should have a choice to vaccinate or not.
Baptist Memorial Health Care is making preparations to offer the vaccine to all its workers in phases. But it won’t be mandatory.
“Of course the vaccine is new and whenever there is a new vaccine naturally some people are apprehensive because they have questions that haven’t been answered yet,” Nancy Averwater, of Baptist Memorial Health Care, Human Resources, said.
So Baptist launched an education module to give employees the facts, side effects and effectiveness of the vaccine. They will start offering the vaccine almost immediately after it arrives, first to those who directly care for patients.
Baptist expects to get the first round of the vaccine in the next 2 weeks.
“First we will make sure we can receive the vaccine and store it safely. And of course we are familiar with how to prepare the vaccine,” Jillian Foster, aSystem Pharmacist-Baptist Memorial Health Care, said.
And then it’s up to employees.
“No one has died from getting the COCVID vaccine. But people are dying from COVID every day. And I would be much more fearful of contracting COVID,” Christopher said.
Some nurses unions have gone on record saying nurses should take the vaccine according to
CDC guidelines.
WREG-TV also reached out to Methodist Hospital about their plans for giving the vaccine to workers.
They said they were still firming things up and would get back with us later in the week
