DUBOIS – During Tuesday’s teleconference, Penn Highlands Healthcare officials discussed the vaccine for COVID-19.
Chief Operations Officer Mark Norman said PHH continues to work with the state Department of Health, which has been refining the phases of vaccinations as conditions change and information comes in.
Currently, about 10,000 first and second doses have been given in the PHH region with about 70 percent of staff and front-line workers receiving vaccines and the first patients within the age 75 plus group.
Phase 1A now includes those ages 65 and older as well as those ages 16-64 who have high-risk conditions. And PHH estimates about 100,000 across the region will need vaccinated.
Norman noted that they are only receiving a limited supply of the vaccine each week.
The federal government allocates how much vaccine goes to each state, and then the states’ departments of health allocate to the healthcare systems. Recently, the state received 114,000 doses to allocate.
Right now, doctors’ offices are contacting patients and setting up appointments for vaccination. Norman said that if patients do not hear from their doctor soon, they can call their doctor’s office or the COVID vaccine line at 814-503-4735.
Dr. Shawn Sheehan also spoke about patients within the healthcare system and said they are seeing a downward trend at the moment, which he credits to more people exercising caution, wearing masks, washing hands, etc.
When answering submitted questions, Sheehan was asked if COVID-19 will ever go away. Sheehan responded that it is possible that it will mutate to a point where it is no longer a threat, but as with other versions of coronavirus or other viruses, such as influenza, it will stay around.
He added that the vaccine will help with decreasing the severity of those who still get it, and will also help with mutated variations.
Sheehan also answered a question regarding what herd immunity is and responded that it is when enough people get vaccinated and there is no one to pass the virus on to.
According to WebMD: “Herd immunity, or community immunity, is when a large part of the population of an area is immune to a specific disease. If enough people are resistant to the cause of the disease … it has nowhere to go.”
The article continues to explain that vaccines are only one way to achieve herd immunity, but you can also naturally develop resistance.
When the body is exposed to a virus or bacteria, it develops antibodies to fight the infection, and future infections are easier for the body to fight off.
Reaching herd immunity depends on the reproduction number of the virus.
Sheehan said the vaccination process will take a while and will depend on a number of things, including production, allocation, delivery and so on, and even if you’ve had the vaccine you should still wear masks and social distance.
In fact, Sheehan said we may continue to wear masks for a while as the vaccine initiative moves forward.
