The El Centro Regional Medical Center will administer the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week that will begin a long but needed road to control the pandemic.
In what is to be a great day for an area that has been hit hard by the pandemic, ECRMC announced that vaccinations to frontline workers will start today.
Frontline workers have worked to capacity for the last nine months working in a valley that was known to have the highest cases of COVID-19 per capita in California. Christmas is the season of hope and it looks like it arrived just in time as the second wave is hitting hard the local hospitals.
The county received 975 dozes of the Pfizer vaccine and will receive 1,200 dozes from Moderna at the end of the month.
The coveted first batch is reserved for health care workers directly caring for COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including psychiatric and prison hospitals, residents and staff in long-term care facilities, paramedics and other emergency medical responders, and workers in dialysis centers, according to priorities set by state and federal health officials.
Even when the vaccine is provided, local health officials are asking residents to remain at home and avoid large gatherings in order to avoid infections.