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2,000 COVID-19 vaccines arrive at Iowa hospitals, 100 staffers vaccinated

The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics reported everyone vaccinated Monday was doing well.

Fast Facts 

IOWA, USA — More than 100 staffers at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UI Health Care) got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine Monday, the day vaccines arrived in the state. 

The shot, made by Pfizer, was approved by the FDA Friday for emergency use. 

UI Health Care and UnityPoint Health in Des Moines each received 975 doses Monday morning. 

'Light at the end of the tunnel': Vaccine brings hope to nurses working with COVID patients

Within two hours of receiving the vaccine, UI Health Care began vaccinating its staff.

"It was fast and painless and the right thing to do," UI Health Care emergency department nurse David Conway said. "The vaccine is the right choice so we can finally get things back to normal."  

Conway was the first person in Iowa to get vaccinated. 

Health care workers and long-term care facility staff and residents will be the first group vaccinated in Iowa. 

UI Health Care has a tiered system for vaccinating its staff. 

First to get the shot are those with direct contact with COVID patients or people who come into contact with contaminated surfaces.

"Today is the beginning of the light at the end of the tunnel," UI Health Care staff nurse Seth Jackson said. 

Jackson, who works in the medical intensive care unit, was the third Iowan to be vaccinated. 

Jackson works with the sickest COVID patients. He's an ECMO specialist, meaning he works with those on life support. 

"It's been rough, mentally, physically and emotionally tough, working in the medical intensive care unit and working with our ECMO patients who all have COVID," Jackson said. 

When Local 5's Rachel Droze spoke to Jackson roughly six hours after getting the shot, he hadn't had any reaction. He said he just had minor soreness in his arm. 

"It's just a regular like vaccine soreness and I feel pretty darn good right now," Jackson said. 

The shot Jackson got today is the first in a two-dose series. 

He and all others who get the Pfizer vaccine will need the second shot 21 days after the first. 

Allison Wynes, a nurse practitioner in UI Health Care's medical intensive care unit, also got vaccinated Monday. 

Wynes, who was fifth to get the shot, said the vaccine arriving lifted a weight off everyone in the medical field. 

"Everything has felt so heavy," Wynes said. "You can physically feel it. You carry it in your chest, you carry it in your shoulders and now I feel like I could run around the block and just scream and dance all over the place. It feels light."

RELATED: Moderna begins testing COVID-19 vaccine in US adolescents

UI Health Care CEO Suresh Gunasekaran said everyone vaccinated so far was doing well.

Gunasekaran himself got vaccinated and said he felt fine during a press conference held Monday afternoon. 

The FDA released fact sheets on the Pfizer vaccine for patients planning to get vaccinated and health care providers administering the vaccine.

In the fact sheet, it states people who have had severe allergic reactions after a previous dose of the Pfizer vaccine or people who have had severe allergic reactions to any ingredient in the vaccine should not get it. 

The FDA also noted reports of severe allergic reactions during mass vaccinations outside of clinical trials.

UnityPoint to begin vaccinations Tuesday


UnityPoint Health in Des Moines received the other 975 doses around 7 a.m.

The hospital will vaccinate 72 staffers Tuesday. 

Hospital officials said they'll have 576 people vaccinated by Friday if all appointments fill up, which they are expecting.

Like with UI Health Care, they have a tiered system to vaccinate their staff. 

The first to get it are people who have contact with COVID-positive or suspected COVID-suspected positive patients in both inpatient and procedural settings.

IDPH: Vaccine should be widely available in mid-2021

The Iowa Department of Public Health estimated the coronavirus vaccine will be widely available by late spring. 

Roughly 172,000 doses are expected to arrive in Iowa by the end of the year. 

That estimate is dependent on the FDA approving an emergency use authorization for Moderna's vaccine. 

Both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine have roughly 95% efficacy rates.

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