Local Physician Talks About Receiving the COVID-19 Vaccine

December 22, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Local physicians were among those who received the COVID-19 vaccine last week at Ascension Saint Thomas Rutherford in Murfreesboro.

Frontline Dr. Will Sherwood of DeKalb County got his COVID-19 Dose #1 on Friday morning, December 18.

A total of 74 hospitals across Tennessee received a shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and began administering it Thursday. Ascension Saint Thomas received nearly 3,000 vaccines for their three biggest hospitals, which include Midtown, West, and Rutherford.

Jeff Mason, an infectious disease specialist and Medical Director of Infection Provision for Saint Thomas West, was actually first in line to get the vaccine.

Dr. Sherwood explained for his wife Jen what the experience was like for him.

Jen: “Tell me about your decision to take the Covid-19 vaccine?”

Dr. Will: “At 6 am last Thursday morning, I received word that the vaccine was at Rutherford – St Thomas Hospital. I scheduled the earliest available time slot, 7 am Friday, December 18, 2020. It was without hesitation”.

Jen: “Were you afraid?”

Dr. Will: “No. Emphatically no. Every single day since March, I have walked into rooms to see patients with Covid-19. Each time, I accept the risk of contracting this highly contagious disease. In my age bracket alone, there have been 60,000 cases in Tennessee and over 500 deaths from Covid-19. That means I have close to a 1 in 100 chance of dying every time I treat a patient. That chance of dying goes up the less healthy and the older you are. 80-year-olds have a 1 in 70 chance of dying”.

Jen: “What does the vaccine mean for eradicating Covid-19”?

Dr. Will: “This is a war. A war where over 300,000 Americans have died. In that number are over 1,700 healthcare workers who have died caring for others. This vaccine is just one tool. It doesn’t mean I can’t get the virus. It doesn’t replace an N95 mask. It doesn’t make anyone Superman. A vaccine is like being issued a bullet-proof vest. It’s not 100%, but it’s something. Studies are showing 90-95%. Compared to 0, that is really something”.

Jen: “Do you think I should take the vaccine?”

Dr. Will: “When the vaccine is available to you, you should. If you are unwilling to take the vaccine, you are standing on the sidelines. You become a pawn for the virus because you are doing nothing to stop it from infecting you and continuing to multiply and spread”.

Jen: “Do you think there’s a Bill Gates chip in your arm now?”

Dr. Will: “If there is, it’s going to be really boring for someone. Unless they like fishing, and then they will have hit the jackpot. Look, last Friday in the Covid Clinic at Family Medical Center, I saw 9 patients. Of the 9, 6 tested positive and 3 were negative. Of the 6 who have Covid-19, 4 were really sick. Of those 4, one week later, 2 of them are now very sick and fighting for their lives. Two weeks ago, a man in his 40s who was in the Covid wing at one of our hospitals took a turn for the worse and needed to be transferred into ICU. They had to intubate him and fly him by helicopter to Huntsville because that was the nearest available ICU bed. This vaccine gives us hope, gives us a weapon against Covid-19. But we are all going to have to pull together if we want to win the war. It’s a personal choice, and today I made mine. It doesn’t make me a hero, it prepares me for battle.”

December 22, 2020
By:

Five members of the DeKalb County Fire Department graduated from the Tennessee Fire Service and Codes Enforcement Training Academy’s Live Burn Firefighter I class held Saturday and Sunday, December 19th and 20th.

Those firefighters are Alyssa Harvey, Cheyenne Phalin, Neal Caldwell,Erick Dodd, and Caleb London.

Captain Brian Williams said this 16-hour course requires students to demonstrate skills needed to extinguish a passenger vehicle fire attack, exterior Class A fire attack, interior structure fire attack, commercial buildings and ground cover fire attack.

“We are extremely proud of these recent graduates. Today, our department stands better prepared to respond to emergencies because of the high standards for training we set for our firefighters,” said Captain Williams.

December 21, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Health Department received its first shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Monday and began administering it to local first responders and health care providers.

Every county health department in the state was shipped at least 100 doses of the vaccine but some got more based on population for people in Phase 1a1 of the Tennessee Department of Health’s COVID-19 vaccination plan including first responders, home health care providers, student health care providers and staff members.

“We got doses in this morning (Monday) and we are trying to reach out to first responders today to go ahead and start getting that (vaccine) out there,” said Michael Railing, Director of the DeKalb Health Department.

The Tennessee Department of Health announced last week that the state was expected to receive an initial allocation of a total of 115,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine over the next two weeks, following Emergency Use Authorization issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its recommended release by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Smaller hospitals that are not receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are expected to receive Moderna vaccine the week of Dec. 28.

“We are excited to receive these vaccines and see our COVID-19 vaccination activities underway,” said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP. “Tennessee county health department staff members will administer the Moderna vaccine to first responders, home health care providers and student health care providers in partnership with these organizations and their local community emergency management agencies.”

“ We don’t have a shipment date yet for the next round of vaccines. Hopefully as we get more vaccine in as time goes on we can move on through the State of Tennessee’s Covid vaccine plan to serve more people,” said Railing

“A big thanks to the DeKalb County Health Department staff including our first line workers. I am very proud of them. They have gone above and beyond not only with testing but in the vaccination phase,” Railing concluded.

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