WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — It was a big day at UPMC Susquehanna in Williamsport on Friday.
The hospital finally received the COVID-19 vaccine. Front-line health care workers at the hospital were the first to be administered the vaccine.
"Amazing, when you think about when this virus was first identified, and now here we are within less than a year getting vaccinated for it, it's amazing," said Dr. Daniel Glunk.
"It was very simple to come up and get, and it feels good to be vaccinated and to be part of the solution moving forward," said Wendy Batschelet with UPMC.
The hospital got 1,950 of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine vials. According to UPMC pharmacists, each can vaccinate several people.
"We pull the vial out of the fridge, and then we will reconstitute it, and then draw up the doses. We get about five to six doses out of each vial," said UPMC pharmacist Timothy Wirth.
Folks who received the vaccine told Newswatch 16 that this is a big step to end the pandemic.
"Relief. I am very excited to have received the vaccine and excited for our community, for our patients. It is the first step forward to ending the pandemic," said Batschelet.
Dr. Glunk recommends the public to get the vaccine once it is made available to them.
"I know that there are a lot of people that do have some skepticism about a new vaccine, but from everything I looked at in terms of the research, this is a very safe vaccine, and as you can tell, I had no problems of getting it myself," said Dr. Glunk.
The hospital will continue to vaccinate health care workers and then focus on patients in long term living and nursing facilities.