7OYS gets inside look at freezers prepared to store COVID vaccine at Howard U Hospital
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — ABC7 is taking you inside of Howard University Hospital where they are ready to store the COVID-19 vaccine.
The hospital has one freezer set to -80 degrees Celsius, which is -112 degrees Fahrenheit, to store the Pfizer vaccine. They have another freezer currently set to -40 degrees Celsius, to meet the -20 degrees Celsius requirement, which is -4 degrees Fahrenheit, for the Moderna vaccine if it gets approval.
"We want to be prepared in every way for any circumstance for our vaccines. We have to conquer COVID, right? And a successful vaccine is just what we need," Anita Jenkins, the CEO at Howard University Hospital said. "This is how we will stop this in the United States and in the world and I'm ready to fight with them."
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The hospital said it will receive 725 doses of the vaccine in the first round. Jenkins said there are about 1,600 people on staff, so that will not even cover half.
"That's not enough, but we understand as we get them, all hospitals and everywhere, we are just going to get them in groups," she said.
The hospital is prioritizing who will get the vaccine first.
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"We want to make sure we are hitting our first responders first. We're getting our emergency departments, our critical care and our COVID specialty units. We're looking at our nurses, our doctors our respiratory therapists, of which I am one, so we want to make sure that we are distributing it to those who are most vulnerable first," Jenkins said.
She noted that even within the hospital there is hesitancy about taking the vaccine.
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"Our hospital, like many hospitals have a high level of nervousness, so information is key," Jenkins said. "We are making sure that our team really understands what they're signing up for and really understands their decision."
Eventually more community members will need to make the decision about getting the shot. Jenkins said when it's her turn, she will get hers publicly to help combat the distrust within the Black community due to historical examples of systematic racism in medicine.
"Our community is nervous and especially the black and brown community, so it's important for me to say as Howard we are ready, and we have everything we need to be successful. That's important to me," she said. "I want people to trust it. I want people of color to trust it. There is a lot of misinformation regarding vaccines and experiments historically."
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"What I am trying to say, to all of our community is that this vaccine is the answer to discourage that we have been experiencing all year long. It has been so rough, and we have not been able to defeat it, right? We're fighting it, "Jenkins said. "We have heroes who are fighting it every day all over this country, but a vaccine and a successful vaccine and to have as many community and health care providers take this vaccine is the answer to slowing the rate of coronavirus and ultimately beating it."
