O'FALLON, ILLINOIS (KMOX) - Doctors, nurses and other front line healthcare workers lined up at Metro East hospitals to get vaccinated for coronavirus Thursday afternoon. A shipment of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived, sent directly from the federal government. Other hospitals around Illinois received their supplies earlier in the week from the state.
At HSHS St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Dr. Jimmy Moss was first to roll up his sleeve and receive the shot. "The reason I'm getting the vaccine today is for my teammates as they struggle to take care of patients." He said as he dedicated the moment. "But more importantly, for all the my patients who have lost their lives because they didn't get this opportunity."
More then 10-thousand employees are getting the vaccine to protect them as they deal with COVID-19 patients. BJC Memorial Hospital in Belleville also received the vaccine and were inoculating employees. The four largest counties in Illinois received shipments totaling 43-thousand doses from the federal government. The rest of the state is sharing that same number this week among 77 hospitals. There are concerns about how many doses will be coming in the following two weeks, but there are no concerns as of now about having enough vaccine to provide the workers a second dose they'll require in three or four weeks to gain full immunity.
© 2020 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.
