SC receives 100 doses of Moderna vaccine

On Jan. 6, the Breckenridge Medical Center, the rural health clinic, received 100 Moderna vaccines to be distributed by state guidelines in Phase 1A, which includes essential frontline healthcare workers and long-term care workers. This was also confirmed by Doug Smith, Interim CEO of Stephens Memorial Hospital.

Phase 1B was modified for those Texas residents 75 and older who are considered high risk. Phase 1C will be individuals age 65-74 that are at high risk and individuals age 16-64 with serious underlying medical conditions putting them at high risk. This information comes from Chris Curtis, who is the Director of Business Development at SMH.

According to Curtis, “We are working through the process of vaccinating all those in Phase 1A and 1B. We have a list of those who meet the criteria for health care workers, first responders, etc. We will begin vaccinating these personnel the week of Jan. 11-15.” Curtis went on to clarify further vaccinations, “After vaccinating all of those on our list of essential workers, if any vaccines are left, we will open those to the public that meets the criteria for Phase 1B and 1C.”

Curtis said, “When it is opened to the public, it will be on a first come first served basis as we just do not have the manpower it would take to create a list of everyone within our community. We will have set times for administering the vaccine and will provide details of times and location once we are able to provide vaccines to the public.”

According to Curtis, “The SMH hospital will be receiving another 100 Moderna vaccines during this week of Jan. 11-15. We anticipate the majority of this shipment will be available to the public that meets the CDC guidelines for Phases 1A, 1B and C.”

Prior to Jan. 6, Stephens County did not received any shipment of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for distribution. Last week, (Dec. 31), Stephens Memorial Hospital (SMH) Pharmacy did receive 10 doses which were left-over from 100 vials of the Moderna Vaccine sent to Brookshires in Cisco. Julie Glueck Honea brought 10 vials left-over from the 100 vials they received and took some to Rising Star, Eastland and 10 to Breckenridge. Otherwise, the 10 staff members who were vaccinated would not have received their first dose. As a result of the 10 vials coming to Breckenridge, Dr. Prater and nine other staff personnel were able to receive their first dose of the Moderna Vaccine on Dec. 31.

According to Mr. Smith, “The Medical Center is due to get another shipment next week (Jan. 4-8), but he didn’t know how many doses they would receive.” Remember, this is a two-shot vaccine. The Moderna has a second shot due a month after the first shot so they must take into consideration to make sure they have the second shot coming in the distribution cycle.

According to Mr. Smith, the Nursing facility gets their own distribution as does the Resource Care facility which is also on a different distribution list if they have applied for either of the vaccines.

The following is the calendar of events concerning the distribution in Texas.

* On Dec. 4, Texas received their first shipment, which went to four sites and included19,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

*On Dec. 18, Texas received 620,000 doses in the second week of distribution.

* On Dec. 21, The determination was made to have the 65 and older group in Phase 1B after the distribution of Phase 1A had been completed, which included 1.9 million recipients in Texas.

* On Dec. 28, Texas received 380,000 doses that went to 350 providers in 94 counties in the third week of distribution.

*Jan. 4, the Texas Department of State Health Services was instructed to ship 325,000 doses in the fourth week of distribution. Also, 224,000 second doses would be sent to complete vaccination of the first week recipients.

Additionally, the CDC was to deliver 167,300 doses of the Moderna Vaccine and 37,050 doses of the Pfizer Vaccine to 949 providers in 158 counties.

The CDC would also deliver 224,250 second doses to those who received the vaccine during the first week of Dec. 4.

*An additional 121,875 doses of the Pfizer Vaccine will go to the Pharmacy Partnership for Long-Term Care Programs, which will serve staff and residents at 770 Long-Term Care Facilities in the week of Jan 11-15.

The State of Texas has been allocated a total of 1.5 million doses through the first four weeks of the Vaccine distribution, which will have reached 214 of the 254 counties in Texas by the end of the week of Jan. 4-8.

Prior to the shipment received Wednesday (Jan. 6), at the Breckenridge Medical Clinic, Stephens County was among 40 counties that had not received any doses, excluding the 10 doses that the Breckenridge Pharmacy received last week.

The string of counties in our area who had not been allocated doses in addition to Stephens County included Shackelford, Jones, Fisher, Kent and Haskell.

Fortunately, Stephens County can now be among those who have received their initial 100 doses for Phase 1A recipients. It is not clear when Phase 1B will get their doses for the newly designated 75 and older group. The 65 and older population has been re-designated as Phase 1C recipients, however, Stephens County is due another shipment next week, but the amount is unclear.