A local doctor called the vaccine a dagger at the back of the coronavirus.
A hospital president said Thursday was an important date in the history of the community and represented a light of hope at the end of a very long tunnel.
Hospitals in Bakersfield administered the first doses of the newly arrived coronavirus vaccine to several executives, doctors and hospital staff while front-line hospital workers clapped and cheered on Thursday.
“We have to go for it – all of us,” said Dr. Arash Heidari, director of the Infectious Disease Fellowship at Kern Medical, and possibly the first person in Bakersfield to be immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
“The more people are immunized,” Heidari said, “the sooner the pandemic will end.”
The vaccine Heidari received was administered at Kern Medical by the hospital’s senior pharmacist, Jeff Jolliff, who called Heidari “a true hero” for the work he has been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic.
It only took a few seconds to inject the vaccine, and when he was done, Jolliff said, “You’ve been vaccinated.”
After nine months of weathering the pandemic and its blockages, limitations, fears and losses, the advent of the vaccine has been recorded as historic for many, especially medical professionals who have seen it up close, who have watched patients and even colleagues with the highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease.
Later that afternoon, Bruce Peters, Mercy’s president and CEO, became the first at Mercy to receive the vaccination from registered nurse Kim Walker.
Peters said he went first because he doesn’t want to ask hospital staff to do something he doesn’t want to do. And he wants the community to know it’s safe.
The vaccine is given in two doses, three weeks apart, so Peters and everyone else who gets the shot will have to go back for a second injection.
“The benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks,” said Peters.
Commonly reported side effects include injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, chills, joint pain, and fever, according to the FDA, which has approved the vaccine for people 16 and older.
“Even after you get the vaccine, it’s important to stay masked,” said Peters, adding that he will continue to adhere to the guidelines.
“The vaccine has been shown to be 94 percent effective,” he said. “That means it won’t be effective for 6 in 100 people.”
“It is important to continue to follow the guidelines,” he said.
Dr. Brij Bhambi, medical director of Bakersfield Heart Hospital, became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at that hospital on Thursday.
And IC nurse Lucy Valdovinos-Barrison was the first nurse in the hospital to receive the vaccine.
But Bakersfield Heart Hospital went much further on Thursday, vaccinating 75 doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists who may be exposed to patients or infectious material.
There was also a sense of relief at Adventist Health Bakersfield after the hospital in the center received its first shipment of vaccines. Dr. Ronald Reynoso, market physician for Adventist Health Bakersfield and Tehachapi Valley, said the vaccine represents hope around the world.
“We are excited about the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine – it offers that hope that everyone in Kern County and the world has wanted,” Reynoso said in a statement. “We are honored to be among the first to receive the vaccine by our healthcare providers, while protecting our frontline personnel and continuing to care for our patients.
“We look forward to the vaccine being given more widely in the community,” he said.
Scott Thygerson, president of Kern Medical, Hospital and Clinic Operations, said East Bakersfield Hospital has been providing medical care to residents of Kern for 150 years. And Thursday was one of those dates that will be remembered as historic.
Thygerson said, “It’s one of those memorable days in our community.”