COVID ‘takes everyone.’ Why California’s frontline health workers are eager for a vaccine

Sutter Medical Center nurse Stephanie Rodriquez is afraid of needles.

“I know. I’m a nurse,” she said. “But I don’t do well with shots.”

She’s far more afraid of COVID-19.

On Friday, she was among the first to volunteer for what health leaders are calling a historic counter-assault on the deadly virus. The first round of vaccinations in the Sacramento region got underway in earnest Friday at hospitals in Lake Tahoe, Yuba City, Sacramento, Davis, Carmichael and other critical care facilities.

At each site, the sense of hope amid an ongoing mission was palpable.

“It’s been a rough road,” Rodriquez said, her eyes red from tears as she talked about patients her hospital coworkers saved, and patients they lost. “It’s nice knowing there is finally hope. Oh, my gosh, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off.

“I’m not invulnerable, but (it’s) an extra layer” of protection.

The initial limited COVID-19 doses are focused this week on critical care workers who toil daily in increasingly crowded hospital emergency rooms and intensive care units during what has become a frightening surge in virus infections, one that state health officials predict will get worse in the next month.

For Rodriquez, a 38-year-old nurse, the fight to save COVID-19 patients has left her emotionally raw at times.

“There are so many of them and they just keep coming,” she said. “It’s not just old(er people). It takes everyone. I’m seeing people my age come in and in the matter of an hour, going from fine to dead. They can seem totally fine and then they are on a ventilator and the next thing you know we are pulling support.”

Rodriquez held hands with nurse Timmera Benavente, a coworker who came along to help. “Even nurses need emotional support,” said Benavente, who will get her shot on Monday.

Sutter Health officials say they received about 1,000 doses in the initial shipment and will be giving the shots through the weekend and daily next week.

Nearby, UC Davis Medical Center officials said they received 4,875 doses this week, and had inoculated 1,000 hospital employees as of Thursday. They are expecting to finish up with those shots in about a week.

Officials in El Dorado and Yolo counties said they both received shipments of 975 doses on Thursday and plan for immediate inoculations. Yolo stored the vials at an undisclosed location on Thursday for safety purposes before transporting doses to Sutter Davis and Woodland Memorial hospitals.

At Barton Memorial Hospital in South Lake Tahoe, the vaccine arrived amid a snowstorm. Inoculations of front-line workers began Friday morning.

Health care officials in the Sacramento area say they are expecting more shipments as early as next week. El Dorado County reports it expects to receive 2,200 doses of the Moderna brand vaccine next week.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna drugs have proven to be highly effective in initial trials. Both require a second dose, to be given three to four weeks after the first one.

Clinical trials have shown that the drugs are safe so far, but some recipients will experience soreness at the shot site in the upper arm and some will feel fatigue, fever or headache the day after the inoculation. Epidemiologists say that reaction is a normal sign that the body is reacting appropriately to the drug.

Health care officials say people who have a history of severe allergic reactions will be counseled that the shots may not be appropriate for them.

California officials say shots will be given in the coming weeks to people living and working in long-term care facilities. In most cases, those facilities will be contracting with Walgreens and CVS for inoculation teams to come into nursing and congregate care homes to administer the shots.

All shots are voluntary, health officials said. At Sutter Hospital Friday morning, Dr. Kevin Smothers, who was overseeing the inoculations, said the response among employees has been positive. “There is incredible demand for this among employees,” he said.

First in line for a vaccination Friday at Sutter was Dr. Paul Walsh, an emergency department physician.

“It is just a triumph to get a vaccine so quickly that is so important,” he said. “I’m thrilled. I’m relieved. I told my mother last night, ‘Guess where I’m going tomorrow morning.’ It’s a really big deal. It makes our work so much safer.”

This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 1:47 PM.