The first delivery, which came via Federal Express at 8 a.m. in the morning, contained 1,950 doses of the vaccine. Lowell General and its partners in the Wellforce system — Tufts Medical Center, Melrose-Wakefield Hospital and Home Health Foundation — conducted an online Town Hall event for all employees in the afternoon and vaccinated its first five staff members.
"The arrival of a vaccine is a true turning point in our fight against this pandemic and I could not be happier for our staff, whose work has been nothing short of heroic over the last nine months," said Jody White, President and CEO of Lowell General Hospital and Circle Health.
Lowell General will deploy this first shipment to provide a first dose of the vaccine to as many staff as possible. In the first two days of clinic registration, more than 900 staff had already signed on to get their vaccinations. Each staff member will receive a second dose of the vaccine approximately 21 days later.
“While this provides us hope that better days are ahead, we urge our community to continue to practice safety measures until we have this virus under control,“ White said. “If we continue to mask, social distance, wash your hands and avoid large gatherings, we will begin to see the light at the end of this tunnel.”
