DANVILLE – There’s been growing concerns the COVID-19 vaccination efforts have been too slow, but the Valley’s biggest health system says it’s pleased with their progress so far – and if these efforts keep up, we’ll truly see a light at the of the tunnel.
Geisinger President and CEO Dr. Jaewon Ryu talked about this during a recent news briefing, “We’re seeing the shipments come in and they’re coming in with greater regularity. I think that’s very reassuring. As we get those shipments, we’re racing to make sure we can get them into people’s bodies as quickly as possible. So we’re off to a good start, we just need to continue to build on that.”
Dr. Ryu says over 1,000 vaccinations a day have been delivered – that’s one every five minutes – and half of their employees have been vaccinated.
Dr. Ryu says he also hopes to expand to the rest of the 1A group next week, “Healthcare workers are up to bat right now, if you will. We have frontline, essential workers and high-risk individuals who are on deck. They’re in the grouping called 1B. And so, once we get through the grouping 1A, we’ll be proceeding to the group 1B.”
Dr. Ryu went even so far as to say getting the vaccine is ‘exactly the intervention needed’ to finally see an end to the pandemic, “Overtime, what’ll happen is if you get enough people vaccinated, the activity level of the virus will continue to decline, and that’s what will really put an end to the pandemic.”
Dr. Ryu also announced over 300 second doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed so far.
