For Dr. Robert Goldberg, the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine
is the ray of sunshine in a dark storm.
Goldberg, a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Mission Hospital
in Mission Viejo, said that he and other healthcare workers have been
waiting for so long. There’d been highs and lows during the course
of the pandemic. At its start this spring, there’d been worries
that the hospital might be busy and overrun with patients.
Then, cases seemed to decrease — until they didn’t.
The last few weeks have seen cases skyrocket in Orange County, which Goldberg
said seemed to reach points higher than in March and April. But though
it will be some time before the general public will be vaccinated, Goldberg
thinks the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is a start to fighting
back against the pandemic.
“We can finally see an end to the storm,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg, along with dozens other healthcare workers across Orange County,
received the vaccine on Thursday after shipments arrived at area hospitals
on Wednesday. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian reported it received
1,950 doses to vaccinate its staff in Newport Beach and Irvine. Mission
Hospital said it vaccinated more than 140 nurses and physicians at its
campuses in Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo on Thursday.
Dr. Michael Hurwitz, the chief of staff at Hoag, said that his staff and
colleagues are “thrilled” to be vaccinated, and when they
first put out the call to vaccinate for high-risk personnel — those
seeing patients in the emergency room or intensive care units, for example
— hospital workers couldn’t sign up fast enough.
“I think what I’m expressing is relief,” said Hurwitz,
who will also be receiving the vaccine. “I think everybody is feeling
that. People here at the hospital are really exposed to a wide cross-section
of the public all day long. I think they feel safer. They feel like they’re
being protected so they can do their important, critical work.”
“Frankly, I’m very relieved that the vaccine is here and that
we now have an opportunity in the first place to protect critical healthcare
personnel to take care of the community and I’m looking forward
for people to be vaccinated, protect themselves so that we can get back
to life as it was before the pandemic,” Hurwitz added.
California previously allocated about 327,000 doses and is expected to
receive at least 1 million more by the end of the month between the additional
393,900 from Pfizer-BioNTech and 672,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine,
if it receives U.S. authorization as expected.
“I think the vaccine, for those of us taking care of patients ...
as a healthcare provider right in the thick of it, I’m so grateful
and excited,” said Dr. Nathan Gilmore, who works in the intensive
care unit at Hoag and received the vaccine Thursday. “It’s
a stressful time to be a doctor and a nurse and be in health care. Knowing
you personally are at risk is one of the scariest parts. Having a vaccine
now is such a relief.”
“It gives me a lot more confidence. I’m still going to wear
[personal protective equipment] and social distance and respect the recommendations
knowing the vaccine isn’t perfect,” he added. “But it
is a relief to me and my family.”
Gilmore said he feels right now is the biggest challenge for healthcare workers.
“The volumes of patients are higher than they ever have been,”
Gilmore said. “We’re right at the edge of getting this vaccine,
but we’re still medically challenged as we try to give every patient
the best possible chance of survival — including all the other patients
sick with other conditions ... and keep up with all that demand.”
The Orange County Health Care Agency reported Thursday that COVID-19 cases
grew by another 2,615 and included 13 new deaths. Hospitalizations are
up to 1,519 and 343 cases are now in intensive care units. Data reveals
just 7.1% of adult beds are available.
Across Southern California, which the state defines as Imperial, Inyo,
Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, the availability of intensive
care unit beds has dropped to 0%.
“There are more people dying now than before and that’s going
to get worse if we don’t continue to protect ourselves and our loved
ones,” Gilmore said. “There’s no question that Thanksgiving
gatherings happened. I’ve had patients that have died that caught
COVID during Thanksgiving, that’ve died with all the medical treatments
possible and they still didn’t make it.”
Gilmore said he wanted to warn citizens to abstain from attending Christmas
parties or New Year’s celebrations this year, adding that hospitals
would be able to adapt but that there were going to be some patients that
wouldn’t make it no matter what physicians did.
“That can be prevented,” Gilmore said.
Hurwitz said that he wanted Orange County residents to take the opportunity
to be vaccinated when it was made available.
“I know they’re worried about their personal safety and —
from everything I’ve read and everything I’ve seen —
the vaccine is safe,” Hurwitz said. “I think the fact that
healthcare workers are stepping forward is a testament to that. The sooner
we get everybody vaccinated, the sooner we get businesses back online
and we get kids safely in school and we can return to a sense of normalcy.”
Here are the latest cumulative coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths
for select cities in Orange County:
- Santa Ana: 22,570 cases; 349 deaths
- Anaheim: 19,262 cases; 371 deaths
- Huntington Beach: 4,622 cases; 94 deaths
- Costa Mesa: 3,730 cases; 49 deaths
- Irvine: 4,149 cases; 19 deaths
- Newport Beach: 1,803 cases; 28 deaths
- Fountain Valley: 1,413 cases; 24 deaths
- Laguna Beach: 409 cases; fewer than five deaths
Here are the case counts by age group, followed by deaths:
- 0 to 17: 10,320 cases; one death
- 18 to 24: 16,366 cases; four deaths
- 25 to 34: 23,908 cases; 24 deaths
- 35 to 44: 17,991 cases; 42 deaths
- 45 to 54: 18,336 cases; 127 deaths
- 55 to 64: 13,796 cases; 238 deaths
- 65 to 74: 6,985 cases; 336 deaths
- 75 to 84: 3,538 cases; 380 deaths
- 85 and older: 2,479 cases; 579 deaths
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