Celina Figueroa is seen injecting Dr. Dixon Golden with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
December 28, 2020 - Hope Community Medicine in Center received and administered its first coronavirus vaccine at the office located on Tenaha Street today, December 28, 2020.
According to Mike Belgard, Hope Community Medicine CEO, the clinic is one of several locations in Center that have received the vaccine and will be administering to medical professionals. Those locations he mentioned besides the Hope Community Medicine were Brookshire Brothers, Aurora Concepts, and CVS.
There are specific guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which indicate who first receives the vaccine and then what individuals are next. At this time the vaccine administrations are at Tier 1, which means only medical professionals are receiving the injections currently.
Dr. Dixon Golden was at the Hope Clinic to receive the shot and he welcomed media to witness the event on Monday morning.
"I feel good, thank you Jesus," said Dr. Dixon. "One of the miracles of modern medicine, it's a blessing to me."
Belgard explained Dr. Golden does work for The Hope Clinic which makes him eligible to be one of the first recipients.
The vaccine being offered locally is the vaccine which has been developed by Moderna Therapeutics.
"Today we have 10 people who are first responders and that kind of thing coming in, and then after that like tomorrow we're going out to Lakeside [Assisted Living] and I'm going to give it to their staff, and their residents who want it," said Belgard.
Belgard says he wants to make sure everybody has the opportunity to receive the vaccine, and as long as possible the vaccine will be available at no charge.
"They're not going to have to pay for an office visit to get it, if you have insurance, we'll bill your insurance, but we're not going to charge you a co-pay we're not going to do any of that stuff. It'll be free to the patient so to speak," said Belgard.
Receiving the vaccine doesn't mean instant immunity and Belgard explained that isn't anything new relating to vaccines as it has to do with how any one individuals body reacts to the vaccine.
"Some people might get the shot and not get any antibodies just like with Hepatitis B for instance. All of our healthcare workers before nurses go to nursing school, they have to get their Hepatitis B titer done so that we know that they have antibodies to Hepatitis," said Belgard. "A lot of them had all the shots when they were kids. They come back, they have no antibodies, so we have to re-immunize them."
Those receiving the Moderna vaccine will receive two shots, one on the initial visit and then another in 28 days to receive the full 95% efficacy. Another very important factor is those receiving the shot must have the same one for both doses.
"It has to be the same vaccine, and people aren't going to be able to go get one vaccination here and then go to Brookshires and get the second one, because they want to be able to keep track of it," said Belgard.
Belgard confirmed those being vaccinated will still need to take precautions such as masking and washing hands.
"I look for the general population to be able to get it probably within the month of January, probably about the third week," said Belgard.
It's important for those getting a vaccine to make an appointment ahead of time since the vaccine is kept frozen and has to be prepared ahead of time for the recipent. Once it's moved from freezer to a refrigerator it only lasts for five days.
"If you had the Covid early on, I would say go ahead and get the shot," said Belgard. "If you recently had the Covid, you're probably good for about, I read a study that was a joint US/UK study that they said that most people that had a moderate to severe case was good with antibodies for up to six months. But, that's all the data they had."
Belgard said after medical professionals, those in the public who will initially be eligible to receive the vaccine will be those 65 and older with serious pre-existing medical conditions.
