More than 1,000 staff at Rock Hill’s Piedmont hospital have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine
Piedmont Medical Center has administered more than 100% of its doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to its health care workers and first responders, and more doses are on the way, officials announced Monday.
The Rock Hill hospital received 975 first doses this month of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and by Jan. 1, Piedmont had administered 104% of those doses — or 1,011, according to information released by the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
A tray holds a minimum of 975 doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But shortly after initial doses went out last month, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed that some vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, thought to hold five doses, actually held six, possibly even seven. The FDA, in a statement, said “given the public health emergency,” it was acceptable to use every full dose in each vial.
As of Monday, 43,227 first doses of the vaccine have been administered to S.C. health care workers as part of Phase 1a of the state’s distribution plan, with more doses given each day.
Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, which is going to nursing homes and long-term care facilities by pharmacy chains as part of a federal program, require two doses. The Pfizer vaccine requires a second dose 21 days after the first.
Monday, DHEC officials said during a briefing with reporters that South Carolina will receive its first shipment this week of second-round doses of Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccines. The state is expected to receive 16,575 second round doses, which will be administered to some of those 43,227 health care workers.
As of Monday, South Carolina has received more than 129,000 first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, but in total, has administered just 33% of those shots.
“Our goal is to have as close to 100% utilization as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC’s interim director of public health, during the briefing.
South Carolina has allocated roughly 100,000 doses of Moderna’s vaccine to the federal program. Data on where those doses have been administered will be available later this week, officials said.
Other hospitals
As of Dec. 23, more than 400 health care workers at MUSC’s Lancaster and Chester locations received first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, spokesperson Ashley Shannon told The Herald.
MUSC received a total of 13,650 first doses earlier this month, which were distributed among all its locations — including Chester and Lancaster. According to DHEC’s data, the system has administered 58% of those doses — or 7,943.
As the number of coronavirus cases and deaths reach “levels that we haven’t seen before in our state,” Traxler stressed that residents should work to prevent the virus’ spread, which in turn, she said would allow “strained” hospitals and health care systems to refocus on its vaccination efforts.
“That will free up, certainly, staff to be able to provide vaccination,” she said.
Last week, DHEC officials anticipated that South Carolina can begin to move into Phase 1b, which will deem people 75 years or older eligible for the vaccine, as early as February, although details on distribution remain unclear.
Since March, more than 16,000 York County residents have tested positive for the virus and more than 180 have died, according to DHEC data. More than 5,500 have contracted the virus in Lancaster County and more than 2,300 in Chester County.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 5:11 PM.
