KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal Food and Drug Administration panel approved the emergency use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, clearing another regulatory hurdle before possible approval for use.
While Kansas City-area hospitals await the final go-ahead from the FDA, preparations are under way to administer vaccines to frontline hospital staff who are part of the first wave of people in line for inoculation.
"There’s a lot of excitement that we’re finally to this point," Truman Medical Center President and CEO Charlie Shields said.
"Nobody knew for sure how effective these initial vaccines were going to be, and we’re pleasantly surprised with the data we’ve seen," Truman Medical Center's Executive Clinical Chief Officer Dr. Mark Steele said. "So, it’s all very exciting."
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the FDA recommended emergency approval of Pfizer's vaccine during a hearing Thursday. An emergency use authorization hearing for a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna is expected to take place Dec. 17, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The excitement, Shields mentioned, also comes with a lot of work.
Truman Medical Center will give its first shots to their frontline workers who deal with COVID-19 patients on a daily basis.
"It’s really primarily focused on our clinical staff, but it also includes a number of our ancillary staff who work in those different areas as well," Steele said.
The hospital has ultra cold storage freezers needed for the Pfizer vaccine, which must be kept at minus-94 degrees Fahrenheit, in place as well as additional storage capacity for the Moderna vaccine, which must be stored at minus-4 degrees.
Truman Medical Center is taking every precaution with the delivery of the vaccines, which will involved the U.S. military.
"We have a number of security things in place to make sure the vaccine is protected and, once we get that, it’s really preparing it for the immunization, which requires some dilution and thawing time and things like that," Shields said.
The hospital has surveyed its staff and about 75% of Truman Medical Center employees are comfortable with getting the vaccine, but the hospital will not require it.
"As time goes on and people see more and more of their coworkers receive the vaccine and the fact that they did well with it, I think that number actually goes up," Shields said.
While Shields and Steele believe this is monumental moment in beating back the COVID-19 virus, they also cautioned that it's not time to let our collective guard down.
Until everyone has a chance to get vaccinated, they urged the public to continue wearing masks and social distancing. The general public isn’t likely to get the vaccine until this summer.
"We still have a lot of COVID in the community and there’s a lot of transmission going on," Steele said. "We still have people in the hospital that we still need to care for and continue to do all the testing that we’re doing, so there’s not going to be a lot of relief for several more months."
Shields said there won't be enough doses for all of Truman Medical Center's frontline workers in this first wave of the vaccine.
