MOHAVE COUNTY – The Chief Executive Officers of Mohave County’s four primary hospitals endorsed coronavirus vaccines during a Tuesday press conference in Kingman. They did so while expecting imminent delivery of some 5,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine to northwest Arizona.
“We are very much looking forward to the arrival of the vaccine in the community,” said Feliciano Jiron, of Valley View Medical Center (VVMC) in Fort Mohave. “This is going to be a huge difference maker. It’s going to be a game changer.”
Western Arizona Regional Medical Center’s (WARMC) Mike Stenger expressed confidence in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and encouraged the public to embrace them along with other washing, masking and distancing protocols.
“We’re adding vaccinate to that list as of this week,” Stenger said. “We know the vaccine is going to work. We highly recommend that you get the vaccine when you’re able to.”
Kingman Regional Medical Center’s (KRMC) Will McConnell and Havasu Regional Medical Center’s (HRMC) Mike Patterson and Mohave County Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley each said they will take the vaccine when their turn comes.
Stenger said WARMC staff is equally divided on the safety and merit of the vaccines. He said a recent survey revealed that one-third will take the vaccine when available, another third will not, and another third is in a “wait and see” mode.
McConnell noted that use of the vaccine is a highly personal choice and that staff will not be required to take it. The CEO’s and Burley said they believe acceptance and use of the vaccine will increase as the shots are administered across the nation in coming weeks.
Burley said her Department is already making plans for a public information campaign encouraging citizens to get vaccinated.
Patterson said HRMC staff is prepared to administer as many as 100 coronavirus shots a day when supply arrives. Burley said timetables for receipt of additional doses of vaccine for other tiers of recipients are unknown but will be publicized when the information is available.
“This isn’t going to happen overnight,” Patterson said. “It is going to take months to get this vaccine distributed and everybody given the opportunity to have it.”
Jiron called the vaccine the best tool available “to give our community the opportunity to return to a new normal.”
McConnell said 18,000 coronavirus tests have been performed at KRMC during the pandemic and that 1,565 people were infected, resulting in a 9.6% positivity rate. He said 96 staff members have tested positive so far, roughly half of them in the past week alone.
The CEO’s said at least 75 HRMC staffers tested positive, at least 40 at WARMC and 11 at VVMC. They said the hospitals are using some outpatient staff to rotate and backfill inpatient personnel who are sidelined with COVID-19 to maintain quality of care for patients.
Burley said her department is concerned about, and discouraging, unnecessary travel and gathering activity through the holidays.
Dave Hawkins