margarita25
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2 days ago:
December 9, 2020: “Tonight the new warning on Pfizer’s COVID vaccine with FDA approval potentially hours away...”
From the above video, “2 nurses showed allergic anaphylactoid reactions/ Most commonly rashes and shortness of breath, different from anaphylaxis, which can be fatal - both have a history of serious allergies, carry epipens, and recovered quickly. What caused the allergic reactions is unclear. The most common triggers in vaccines, preservatives, animal products, are not in the Pfizer vaccine.”...UK regulatory guidance: “People with significant allergies to food, medications or vaccines should not take the Pfizer.”
I am concerned about the amount of training (or lack of training) giving to some who will be giving the vaccine. I personally have received quite a few emails from companies who are hiring temporary employees for COVID vaccinating.
One email I received began, “CVS is hiring thousands of employees to staff COVID vaccine administration clinics....”
Most vaccines (flu, tetanus, hepatitis, etc) are in prefilled syringes. They are a premeasured dose. All that is required from the nurse or other healthcare worker is to attach the correct size of needle and give the vaccine. No measuring, mixing, reconstituting. Relatively foolproof for healthcare workers.Can you explain your concerns? I know you're in HC and trust your opinion.
Most vaccines (flu, tetanus, hepatitis, etc) are in prefilled syringes. They are a premeasured dose. All that is required from the nurse or other healthcare worker is to attach the correct size of needle and give the vaccine. No measuring, mixing, reconstituting. Relatively foolproof for healthcare workers.
In quite a few states, medical assistants, phlebotomists, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals are allowed to give vaccine injections. There is no set amount of training or level of certification that allows a healthcare professional to give vaccines. You don’t have to be a nurse in order to give vaccines.
Pfizer COVID vaccines, however, are not going to come in prefilled, premeasured syringes. They are in vials that have to be stored at 90 degrees below zero. When the vials are retrieved from frozen storage the door has to be closed within 15 seconds.
The vials have to thaw. Then the healthcare worker needs to draw up the correct measurement of vaccine into a syringe, inject the vaccine into the correct amount of sterile water to reconstitute, mix it up, and draw it back into the syringe. Then the correct needle needs to be attached to the syringe and the injection can be administered.
The thawed vaccine must be used within 6 hours or it must be discarded.
There are several steps to the process, and lots of room for error including incorrect measurement and leaving the thawed vaccine out too long.
I conduct orientation classes including skills check offs, as well as annual clinical inservices and trainings for nurses and other clinical staff. I know that many are very inexperienced with any vaccines that aren’t in prefilled syringes. I also handle the coaching sessions and retraining for nurses and other clinical personnel and I can tell you that injection errors are very common.
With the amount of medical staff that will be needed to administer the huge demand for COVID vaccines, I am concerned that there is potential for errors. If vaccine errors are made, people who have received COVID vaccines might be unprotected, because they would be unaware vaccine was given incorrectly.
I don’t mean to discourage anyone from getting the vaccine. My recommendation is that you get it from an experienced healthcare professional.Thank you for your detailed comments. It seems that vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine will be a complex process with various opportunities for errors. I find this rather scary!
I don’t mean to discourage anyone from getting the vaccine. My recommendation is that you get it from an experienced healthcare professional.
Yes, thank you. We have a CVS near us so we may get it there. Or perhaps our doctors' office will be able to vaccinate us. I think it will probably be at least April before we can get vaccinated, even though we are in a high-risk group (over 75).
Do contact your doctor. I am hoping you will be prioritized before April.
A lot of people who are prioritized are not going to show up for their vaccines, so you want to keep pushing to get yours sooner. Your doctor and their office should be able to help you with this.
All it takes is a prescription.
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