DETROIT – On Thursday, Henry Ford Health System hospitals began administering Pfizer’s COVID vaccine to staff members.
One of the health care workers eligible to get vaccinated was Local 4′s own Dr. Frank McGeorge.
Dr. McGeorge received an email from Henry Ford Hospital, where he’s an emergency room physician, informing him that it was his turn to receive the vaccine.
He said one interesting thing about the vaccine’s preparation is that before it’s administered, it has to sit for a prescribed period of time to thaw (the vaccines are stored at extremely low temperatures). Then, the nurse carefully reconstitutes it with saline.
When someone is ready for the shot, the nurse draws it up into a vial and delivers it directly to the patient. The vials are meant to provide five doses of the vaccine, but those administering it have been consistently able to get about 6 doses per vial.
Dr. McGeorge said in the hours after receiving the shot, he didn’t notice anything different. When he gets the flu shot, though, he says his arm is usually a little sore -- the COVID-19 vaccine was better in that aspect.
It takes 24 hours before you’re in the clear in terms of the vaccine’s side effects. After you get the vaccine, you are given a vaccine card that explains which vaccine you got and when you got it.
READ: New tool will help Centers for Disease Control monitor COVID-19 vaccine recipients for any reactions
McGeorge plans to download the V-Safe app from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s a smartphone-based active surveillance program for COVID-19, allowing the CDC to monitor vaccine recipients for any health problems through text messages and online surveys in the first week after a person receives the vaccine, and then weekly thereafter for six weeks.
Watch Dr. McGeorge’s video diary of the COVID vaccination process below:
More Coverage: