Area hospitals have been preparing for coronavirus vaccines for months: When will they happen?

Ohio hospitals will receive hundreds of thousands of the much-anticipated novel coronavirus vaccine over the next couple of weeks.

Most hospitals in Butler County will receive their first doses next week to inoculate frontline healthcare workers, though UC Health’s West Chester Hospital received its first doses Tuesday.

Officials with area hospital systems said they’re not certain how many doses they’ll receive in the first batch of the novel coronavirus vaccines, but they’re ready. Mercy Health-Fairfield is expected to receive its allotment of the COVID-19 vaccine next week, said hospital spokeswoman Nannette Bentley.

“We’ve been preparing for this for months and are doing dry runs at our locations on the vaccination process,” she said. “We are actively signing up frontline caregivers to receive the vaccine.”

While taking the vaccine is not mandatory, it is strongly encouraged, and Bentley said “there’s strong interest in receiving the vaccine.”

More than 73.6 million novel coronavirus cases have been diagnosed worldwide since the start of the pandemic, and nearly 17 million have been in the United States. More than 1.6 million people worldwide have died from the virus, which includes more than 300,000 in the United States.

Ohio, as of Wednesday, has seen nearly 585,000 cases since March with nearly 7,800 Ohioans dying from the virus.

On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine said nearly 98,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were sent to Ohio this week, and a second batch of 123,000 is expected next week. The Moderna vaccine, which is up for emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration this week, is expected to send more than 200,000 vaccine doses to Ohio next week if it’s approved.

The Trump administration and Pfizer are negotiating for the drugmaker to produce tens of millions of additional doses by mid-2021, according to the New York Times. The administration has purchased enough doses to inoculated 150 million people by June, less than half of the country’s population.

The Christ Hospital is expecting to receive its vaccine delivery early next week, but that’s not yet confirmed, according to hospital spokesman Bo McMillan. He said the schedule is pending the FDA’s decision.

If things go as expected, McMillan said they’ll inoculate their frontline workers as soon as possible, but that process will be done at its Mt. Auburn facility. The hospital has a campus in Liberty Twp.

“We plan to do it the same day the vaccine doses arrive at the hospital,” he said. “We’ve set up an employee vaccination clinic where frontline COVID caregivers will be the first to receive it.”

The next tier of vaccinations will be based on the occupational risk of healthcare workers who come into contact with the virus.

The vaccine is not mandatory for team members, but there’s no data yet if anyone at The Christ Hospital has opted out.

The Pfizer vaccine has shown to reduce the frequency of the SARS-CoV-2 illness, the strain of the novel coronavirus, said Dr. Roberto Colon, associate chief medical officer at Miami Valley Hospital and VP of Quality for Premier Health.

“That means they prevent people from getting sick,” he said. “They prevent people from having to be in the hospital and they are likely ― which they have not been shown definitively ― likely going to reduce mortality related to COVID-19 because of the reduction of the severity of illness. That’s what we all really want to see.”

The morbidity of the novel coronavirus is between 1 to 4 percent, Colon said, but it increases to more than 10 percent once patients are hospitalized.

Though there is a vaccine developed, and potentially three more vaccines could be approved by the FDA (one later this week and two as early as next month), it’s likely going to take six to 12 months before enough people are inoculated for the vaccine “to take us out of the danger area with regards to COVID, which means a lot of those preventative measures are likely going to be needed through 2021.”

That means the public should not waver in mask-wearing, social distancing and hand hygiene practices until most of the population is inoculated.

Colon said the big question that is not known is the longevity of the vaccine.

“Until we answer that, we won’t know whether this is going to be a vaccine that requires regular boosters, or if it becomes a one-time vaccine series or not,” he said. “Part of the reason we don’t know is this has not been studied long enough.”


Pop-up coronavirus testing site scheduled for Saturday in Ross Twp.

A pop-up novel coronavirus testing site is scheduled for Butler County residents on Saturday in Ross Twp.

The free COVID-19 testing will take place from 8 a.m. to noon, or until resources run out at Ross Middle School, 3425 Hamilton-Cleves Road.

Anyone that will take a test must bring a government-issued photo I.D. and additional qualified documentation verifying you either reside or are employed in Butler County.

Individuals must present both documents in order to be tested.

Documentation beyond a photo I.D. may include:

  • Vehicle registration
  • Voter registration
  • Rent receipts for rent paid within 60 days of when the testing is conducted
  • Mortgage statement issued within 60 days of when the testing is conducted
  • Pay stub, utility bill, credit card bill or any bank statement postmarked or dated by the issuer within 60 days of when the testing is conducted
  • Copy of the most recent Butler County property tax bill
  • Letter from your employer
  • Rental management, mortgage company, or shelter (including a homeless shelter) that can verify that an individual is in residence
  • Credit report

The pop-up testing site is sponsored by Primary Health Solutions, Butler County General Health District and the Butler County Board of Commissioners. For more information, visit www.myprimaryhealthsolutions.org.

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