RICHMOND – Healthcare workers in Fort Bend County are among the first to get vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine.
The Oak Bend Medical Center in Richmond received its first shipment of the vaccine on Wednesday. The hospital received 1,000 doses and 50 workers on the frontlines got their first shot.
Radiologist Assistant Noel Jackson was the first one on the list.
“I feel good. I was kind of scared at the beginning other than that I feel fine,” she said.
Patricia Masek is a respiratory therapist and also got the vaccine.
“Definitely a little nervous just to be one of the ones at the beginning of taking the vaccine but it’s also very exciting,” she said.
Fort Bend Medical Center CEO Joe Freudenberger also got the vaccine.
“I’m taking the vaccine today because I want everyone to know that it is safe. As the CEO, I’m willing to do it and encourage everyone else to do the same,” he said.
This is the second-week vaccines have rolled into hospitals and facilities across the state.
On Wednesday morning, Glenn Lakes Pharmacy in Missouri City received their first shipment of the Moderna vaccine.
“This is an exciting moment because this is the hope that we can get past this thing,” Freudenberger said.
It’s a milestone that’s been in the works since the pandemic started and patients are encouraging others to get the vaccine.
“More so…we can get the whole COVID thing done with and over because cases constantly keep rising but if we can get that vaccine do what it’s supposed to do then hopefully COVID will be gone,” Jackson said.
“We have to do something to the spread of the coronavirus, and we can’t keep living the way we are,” Masek said.
Both vaccines help fight against COVID-19, but Freudenberger says they decided to go with Moderna.
The hospital says first responders will receive the vaccine next.