You could say the Medical Center in Bowling Green struck pharmaceutical gold on Monday. The 337-bed hospital received a portion of Kentucky’s first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine and has begun immunizing frontline workers.
With fanfare, 975 doses were were delivered in a thermal shipping container labeled ‘fragile’ and its contents packed in dry ice. The Medical Center was among 11 Kentucky hospitals to receive the vaccine first because it has a rare, ultra-cold freezer that can store the vaccine at minus 80 degrees, the required temperature for the Pfizer vaccine.
That's colder than temperatures in Antarctica.
Registered nurse Courtney Calloway contracted the virus in May while working in The Medical Center’s COVID unit. In an interview with WKU Public Radio, she said she'll get the vaccine as soon as possible.
“I’ve shared things with my friends and said absolutely yes, I think you should get it," Calloway said. "I will get my entire family vaccinated at first chance.”
Calloway will not be among the first round of hospital staff receiving the vaccine since she has
already had COVID-19 and has likely developed some immunity against the virus.
Emergency room physician, Dr. William Moss, was the first Medical Center employee to get immunized on Monday afternoon. While it's a start, the 975 doses are only a fraction of what’s needed to inoculate Med Center Health’s system-wide workforce of about 5,000. Additional shipments of the vaccine will arrive in coming weeks.
