Munson Healthcare is working to update the community on their efforts to distribute the Coronavirus vaccines. Munson says the Pfizer vaccine is already being used for medical workers and first responders, and the Moderna vaccine is arriving in northern Michigan this week.
Essential workers and adults over age 75 will be next for the vaccine, and the hospital system says they’ll be very public in announcing when it’s time for the next groups to line up. After that, will come other high-risk adults.
Munson also says their inpatient numbers started to increase in November, to levels not seen since the start of the pandemic.
Munson Medical Center President and CEO, Matt Wille says, “It started dropping off a little bit in the middle of the month. But then we saw that recent spike. And we believe that is due to the multiple household gatherings that occurred during the Thanksgiving holiday. And so that really put additional strain on our system.” Wille adds, “One of the concerns we have is that as we go into Christmas and New Year’s, that those multiple household gatherings may continue. So we want to emphasize with the community, by having those multiple household gatherings, it does create the probability that we will have more in-patients. That does put additional strain on our staffing resources and our ability to care for not just the COVID patients but also the non-COVID patients as well.”
Skilled nursing home employees and residents are also among the first to get the vaccine. Munson Healthcare Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Christine Nefcy, was asked what that means for changing rules on visitation for those seniors. “Until we can get large numbers of folks immunized those restrictions may stay in place for some time.” She also says “herd immunity” would require about 70% of the population to receive the vaccine.
Dr. Nefcy was also asked about the mutation in the virus that has been noticed in Great Britain and exploded in the news headlines, particularly throughout the UK. “The good news is it doesn’t seem to have impacted the virulence, or how sick you get. But it does seem to impact how contagious this virus is. So it’s not a surprise the virus is mutating. That’s what viruses do. The work that is going on right now is an evaluation of whether that mutation is going to impact the efficacy of the vaccines we have in place.”
She says the preliminary data shows the vaccines will still be effective even with new vaccines, but it may be too soon to know for sure. “Just like we have to get flu shots every year because that virus mutates, there is the possibility with COVID-19 that you may need booster shots or an adjusted COVID vaccine as time goes on. We just don’t know that yet.”
And Dr. Nefcy was asked about the time it would take between getting the vaccine and considering yourself “immune.” She says, “Typically what we would see after your second dose it would take you several weeks to develop full immunity.”
For more information, they ask that you do not call Munson Healthcare unless absolutely necessary. If at all possible, use this for details about the rollout of the vaccine and when it is your turn to receive one.
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