First frontline health workers take COVID-19 vaccine at St. Elizabeth

Frontline worker: "It was an honor and I appreciate the opportunity to be one of the first ones to get the vaccine."

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – On Tuesday, the first group of frontline health care workers at CHI Health St. Elizabeth hospital took the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.  Many were overcome with emotion after receiving the vaccine.

“An honor,” said Cory Shield, an internal medicine hospitalist at St. Elizabeth.

“You can take my mask off and see me smile,” said Ryan Martin, a pulmonary critical care physician at the hospital.

The first COVID-19 patient checked into St. Elizabeth on March 17. After receiving the vaccine, frontline workers reflected on what the past nine months have been like.

“It’s every day,” Martin said. “You’re looking at somebody every day. Wanting something to change and wanting something to improve and frankly you don’t have any significant number of tools that you can use to help them out.”

“I worked in ICU during the 80s during the AIDS crisis,” said Jackie Vaverka, an ICU nurse at St. Elizabeth. “In some ways, this is a little bit more overwhelming because we didn’t have as many patients at one time.”

To frontline workers, the vaccine represents hope that better times are around the corner.

“This is a moment where you notice that it’s going to change,” Martin said. “The trajectory going forward is going to change when more people get this.”

“This vaccine is good,” Shield said. “It’s been shown to be safe and it’s been proven to be very effective. I got this vaccine not only for myself but more importantly, so I can see my grandparents again.”

How will frontline workers remember this day?

“It was an honor and I appreciate the opportunity to be one of the first ones to get the vaccine and I’ll be proud to say I was one of the first,” Shield said.