HOULTON, Maine — In Aroostook County, the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic just became a little easier.
Medical workers at Houlton Regional Hospital received their first doses of the vaccine produced by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna, which along with pharmaceutical company Pfizer is one of two currently approved vaccines by the U.S. Government’s Food and Drug Administration.
Shawn Anderson, CEO of Houlton Regional Hospital, said that the hospital initially received around 300 doses of the vaccine, which is being rolled out across the country as COVID-19 cases surge from coast to coast. The hospital received an additional 100 doses on Monday, Dec. 28.
“All of that is dedicated to healthcare workers,” Anderson said of the vaccines. “Its purpose is to make sure that all healthcare workers are vaccinated, first and foremost.”
Frontline workers in the hospital’s emergency department, acute care units and respiratory therapists were among the first to be vaccinated. Dr. Jennifer Cavalari, a hospitalist at HRH, was the first to receive the vaccine at the hospital on Tuesday, Dec 22.
“We have all been grieving for months due to the devastation and chaos brought on by COVID, but for me and my colleagues, this is a bright ray of hope for the future,” Cavalari said. “This is an incredible collaborative effort from the scientific community, and we have worked together from around the world like never before.”
In addition to Houlton Regional, other hospitals around Aroostook County, such as Northern Light AR Gould Hospital in Presque Isle, Cary Medical Center in Caribou, and Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent also received the Moderna vaccine, in similar dosage amounts. Northern Light also received shipments of the Pfizer vaccines on Dec. 15, which require storage at lower-than average temperatures. In the St. John Valley, pharmacists have also begun to receive shipments of vaccines.
Both vaccines require two separate shots, with a minimum of 28 days in between injections. Anderson said the hospital hopes to receive the next required doses for the second shots sometime within the next month.
“We’ve been guaranteed that they would not send out the first round of vaccines without having the second round allocated to us,” Anderson said. “Once they start the process, they literally have to have that second round of vaccines lined up and ready to send to us.”
