PITTSBURGH — “We are preparing to receive thousands of doses of Pfizer,” Graham Snyder, M.D., UPMC medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology, said in a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon. He added that UPMC is “optimistic” that across the system, front line employees will be able to be vaccinated and soon after, receive Moderna vaccine doses for UPMC long-term facilities and staff.
In this briefing, Snyder discussed the phase one of the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations is in three parts, starting off with front line workers receiving the Pfizer vaccinations and nursing homes or long-term care facilities receiving the Moderna vaccination, once FDA and other clinical UPMC professionals review materials, statistics and overall effectiveness.
Each “dose” of Pfizer, comes with two physical shots that UPMC employees will not be required to take — it is completely voluntary, unlike the flu vaccination.
“We know exactly how safe and how effective (the flu vaccination) is,” Snyder said.
He said that there is still much unknown about the two vaccinations and therefore UPMC is not mandating that UPMC employees receive both shots.
Additionally, this vaccination has been said to have some side-effects including fever, aches and arm pain. Any employee who is willing to take the vaccination once allocated to UPMC hospitals and facilities will also be closely monitored for side-effects and effectiveness in preventing the virus.
“Speed is important, but so is safety,” Snyder added.
The second and third phases of the first allocation of vaccinations will come with more data on the effectiveness but will follow with having other healthcare professionals and soon after, the more vulnerable populations before finally open to the general public.
Synder also said UPMC has been and is preparing to be able to store the “thousands” of doses of Pfizer in the freezers needed to ensure the best results. He was unable to say how many freezers and mechanisms there are for the dosages.
In addition, he was unclear of if and when UPMC would receive a second allocation of the Pfizer vaccination as UPMC would like to adapt to what they learn from their experience with the vaccination and what they learn from the review as well.
Donald Yealy, UPMC senior medical director and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh, also joined in on the conversation stating that with this positive news, comes the understanding that it will be months before the general public has access to the above vaccinations.
“The vaccination alone will not likely solve all the issues,” he added.
While UPMC has been using monoclonal antibody therapies to combat the spread of the virus, UPMC announced earlier in the fall that they have started to develop their own antibody therapies by the names Ab1 and Ab8, in which clinical trials are beginning “very soon” and could potentially “hold the promise of being curative for those COVID-19 positive”.
He, alongside Snyder, also continued to urge listeners to take the virus very seriously, go to preventative and primary care appointments, go to the emergency room if necessary and to know that the hospitals are safe places to go.
“This (the vaccination) does not mean we can stop wearing masks,” Snyder said.
“I don’t think that COVID will be completely behind us for a long time,” Yealy said.
