By Ashley McCarty
The first doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine were administered on Dec. 23 at the Adams County Health Department.
The health department received the first 100 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine on Dec. 22. A week prior, the department had received the freezer needed to store the vaccine.
A few short hours after receiving the vaccine, the department had their first 10 “Phase 1A” volunteers, which included Deputy Health Commissioner Jason Work of Adams County EMS, Dr. Sabir Quraishi, MD, Dr. Olayinka Aina, MD, Josh Chaney of Adams County EMS, Joe Himes of Adams County EMS, ACHD Board Member Linda Steele of Adams County EMS, Marty Adams of Adams County EMS, Danny Music of Adams County EMS, Rick Bowman of Manchester Fire and EMS and Art Young of West Union Fire and EMS.
The FDA approved the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine for emergency use Authorization on Dec. 18. This was after Phase Three Clinical Trials showing an efficacy percentage of 94.1 percent.
The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine was the second vaccine to be authorized for emergency use, following shortly behind Pzifer, Inc.’s vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, which was authorized on Dec. 11.
“We contacted EMS and let them know that they were in the priority category, and [asked] who in their ranks were ready to receive it. A couple of the people that are front line in the emergency department at [Adams County Regional Medical Center] had also expressed interest, so we set up times with them. We needed to make sure that we had 10, because each vial has 10 doses, and we didn’t want to waste any,” said Adams County Health Commissioner Dr. William Hablitzel.
The health department has received a number of calls from interested “Phase 1A” workers.
“We’ve been in contact with some dental offices that are interested, so yes, we’ve received a lot of calls, and we’ve received calls from people out in the community who are going to be further down on the list; people in the community that are not in a high priority group are interested in how they get on a list, or when vaccine would be available for them, so there’s been a lot of interest,” said Hablitzel.
The first day you administer vaccination is hopefully the beginning of the end, he said.
“This will be a long process to get everyone vaccinated, but you have to start somewhere, and this is the first step. There’s a lot of excitement about that,” said Hablitzel.
Bowman, Manchester Fire Chief, was the second volunteer to receive the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.
“[The health department] contacted us and asked us if we would like to take it or not, and I said yes, I planned on taking it. I didn’t know that I was close to first until I got up there. I just decided it was something that I needed to do. I feel that I will be able to do more, especially after I get the second dose, and I hope enough people take it that we find out that it’s working. If it encourages people to take it, or people want to see if I’m okay, then people can make up their minds,” said Bowman.
Bowman will receive the second 0.5 ml intramuscular dose on the 21st of January.
“So far I’ve not seen any side effects of it, I don’t feel any different. I’ve been staying away from most COVID-19 patients because of my age, and if it makes it so I can do more, and I can show other people that — not all of my people will want to take it and that’s fine — but if I can show them that it’s okay, maybe more of them will. If it turns out to be safe, and more people take it, maybe we’ll get rid of this virus faster,” said Bowman.
Art Young, a captain of the West Union Fire Department, had similar sentiments about taking the vaccine. He also wished to receive it because of his age.
”I’ve had a lot of people tell me that it’s too early, it hasn’t been out long enough, and I said that if everybody would have had that attitude about Polio we’d still be fighting that,” said Young.
Young said he wished people would take the vaccine.
“It’s certainly going to be a personal choice, as it was for me. Of course, taking vaccines and stuff doesn’t bother me. I spent 33 years in the military, so I got shots whether I wanted them or not,” he said, laughing.
The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine can be held at regular freezer temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius (or -4 degrees Fahrenheit) for up to six months, making it easier than the Pfizer, Inc., vaccine to ship and store; it also doesn’t need to be diluted right before it’s given.
The ingredients in the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine are the mRNA that contains the genetic code for the SARS-CoV2 spike protein, lipid (oil) bubbles (SM-102, PEG2000-DMG, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC) and Cholesterol) which provide a protective coating for the mRNA and a saline (salt) solution (Tromethamine (tris), Sodium acetate, Sucrose (sugar) and Water), another common medical ingredient called a tris buffer, which make the pH level of the vaccine close to that of our bodies.
The most commonly reported side effects of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine as listed by the FDA are were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes in the same arm as the injection, nausea and vomiting, and fever. According to the FDA, more people experienced these side effects after the second dose.