BUFFALO, N.Y. — Frontline health care workers at local hospitals have started receiving the first doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Some hospitals include Kaleida Health, the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Olean General Hospital.
According to Kaleida Health, vaccinations started late Monday afternoon for doctors, nurses and staff who work in high-risk areas. The first person to receive the vaccine locally was Shawn Covell. He's a critical care nurse in the intensive care unit at Buffalo General Medical Center.
The vaccination program at Kaleida is voluntary, and will be offered to providers and residents working in high risk areas and then opened up to those in other areas.
In a release to 2 On Your Side, Kaleida is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated as soon as it becomes available to help flatten the curve in Western New York.
Roswell Park says its first frontline clinical team members received the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday morning. The first to receive the vaccine at Roswell Park was Philip McCarthy, the director of the Transplant & Cellular Therapy Center. McCarthy is also a cancer survivor.
“I feel very privileged and excited to be getting this vaccine,” McCarthy said. “This has been a difficult time for everyone, and hopefully, this vaccine will be a step toward us having a safe way to go out in public and go to restaurants or movies again. Right now, we don’t have a safe way us to do that, and I’d like for all of us to have a normal life again.”
More staff members will receive the vaccine over the coming weeks, according to Roswell Park.
Erie County Medical Center also began vaccinating caregivers on Wednesday.
The first vaccination at ECMC was given to to Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Stacey Forgensi. ECMC added that Licensed Practical Nurse Vanessa McDonough administered the first COVID-19 vaccine.
The Olean General Hospital also received its first supply of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday, and began vaccinating physicians, nurses and staff who work in high risk areas of the hospital. Vaccination is voluntary.
Katie Blocher, a registered nurse, was the first frontline healthcare worker at the Olean General Hospital to receive the vaccine.
The hospital is encouraging everyone who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to do so.
