Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Vaccine administered

The first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine were administered at local hospitals last week.

Roosevelt General Hospital began vaccinating employees last Tuesday and Plains Regional Medical Center gave its first vaccinations Thursday.

Dr. Mark Lockett, medical director of the emergency room at PRMC, was the first in the Clovis facility to receive the shot.

"It was really efficiently done," Lockett said. "Through Presbyterian we signed up for an appointment time on an easy to use MyChart system, and then we showed up. They had us sign in and gave me the waiver and then the shot, and then a 15-minute waiting period and that was it. It was really easy and didn't hurt at all."

Lockett said afterward he had no reaction to getting the vaccine, and planned on working out later.

He said after he was vaccinated five or six other healthcare workers followed, including two charge nurses.

"They really wanted the leadership to step up first just to show people that this is something easily doable," Lockett said. "One of the things about this community is that we've been hit really hard in the last two months. With the holidays coming up and the cold weather where people tend to congregate indoors I'm really anticipating a crisis in January, and we really are in crisis mode - not just here but all through Texas and New Mexico. I think that this is really an excellent way for people to cut down on the transmission of this thing because it's getting a bit hairy."

RGH had five frontline healthcare workers opt-in as the first to receive the vaccine - Dr. Erika Garcia; Neelu Finley, nurse practitioner; Tory Norris, registered nurse and director of the emergency department; LaDawna Brooks, chief of diagnostics and therapeutics; and Ashleigh Church, internet technology computer systems technician. The workers were selected because they actively work in patient care areas.

RN Sabra Cooper administered each of the shots, which are done as an intramuscular injection in the upper arm. The vaccine consists of two doses, the second of which these healthcare workers will receive 21 days after the initial dose.

 
 
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