Hospital Housekeepers Among First to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine

Many hospitals throughout the United States are still waiting for the first shipments of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved emergency use authorization last week. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory group previously recommended that frontline health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities be the first to receive the vaccine. However, housekeepers have been among the most vulnerable workers in the pandemic. Therefore, some hospitals that already received their vaccine shipments made sure housekeepers were among the first staff members to receive the COVID-19 vaccines earlier this week, CNN reports.

At the Veterans Affairs Bedford Healthcare System in Bedford, Massachusetts, Andrew Miller—a housekeeper in Environmental Management Services—was the first employee to receive the vaccine, according to the hospital’s Twitter post.

At Baptist Health Lexington, in Lexington, Kentucky, a housekeeper was also one of the first ones to receive the vaccine, according to WTVQ-TV

Additionally, at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, members of the housekeeping staff were also among the first in the vaccination line, according to KMOV-TV. Individuals who received a shot were given a pamphlet to watch for possible side effects like allergic reactions.

According to CBS News 19, UVA Health in Charlottesville, Virginia, is expecting to vaccinate 9,000 to 10,000 employees, including housekeeping staff. Costi Sifri, MD, director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health, said, “Everybody, we think, who is seeing a patient deserves a vaccine if they want a vaccine.”

The next phase of the vaccine distribution may include teachers and childcare workers, according to CNN.