Durham, NC – A Navy veteran was first in line to receive a coronavirus vaccination at the Durham Department of Veterans Affairs hospital on Tuesday.
Oliver Vick was one of 25 veterans in the Durham VA Healthcare System long-term care facility who volunteered to receive their first dose of the vaccine. Vick said he considers it his duty to help defeat the virus, and he was happy to serve his country again.
“We have been held captive by this virus for too long,” he said. “This is just our way of fighting back. It will make a big difference for everyone.”
The Durham VA received 2,925 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine on Tuesday. It is one of 37 VA hospitals across the country selected to receive the first shipments, and the vial trays were quickly unpacked and placed there in ultra-cold freezers for storage.
“Our team is ready to deploy vaccination tomorrow, and our goal is to vaccinate all veterans and staff on Wednesday and possibly Thursday,” said Melissa Durkee, Deputy Chief of Pharmacy for the Durham VA.
Paul Crews, director of the Durham VA, said that, as is the case with other hospitals, the staff there will be the main focus in early vaccination efforts.
“It’s important for us to make sure our high-risk health workers get this vaccine to make sure we have them around to give that vaccine later,” said Crews.
The Durham VA expects to see a second shipment of vaccines in late December or early January, allowing staff to begin vaccinating veterans who don’t live in the long-term care facility, officials said.
“We know we have more than 70,000 veterans that we are responsible for, and we will get vaccinations for those veterans,” said Crews. “I’m done. Let’s get started.”
The vaccine was also shipped to the Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg on Tuesday.
Roni Paul, a former army doctor who now works as an emergency room nurse and nurse educator, was there first in line to get vaccinated.
“This is a milestone for us here at Fort Bragg,” said Lieutenant General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, in a statement. “We would not have arrived at this point without our first responders, medics, health workers and the incredible staff at the Womack Army Medical Center.”