Health care workers and others in Petersburg received the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Petersburg last Thursday and Friday.
That shipment of the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine arrived in Petersburg Thursday afternoon on Alaska Airlines flight 64.
The first dose in Petersburg went to registered nurse Mamie Nilsen at 4:01 p.m. that day. Petersburg Medical Center CEO Phil Hofstetter spoke about that honor during Friday’s COVID panel show on KFSK.
“She is a steady nurse in the long term care, has really had to deal with it at the front line level, and just no better person and then we also had one of our long term care residents probably right around the same time and I want to make sure that I have clearance to say the name before I say it but that will be publicized as well once we have that,” Hofstetter said Friday.
Other doses went to physicians and other staff at the medical center and the residents of long term care. The first vaccine also went to staff and volunteers for emergency medical services. Next on the list will be community members who are older or have medical conditions that make them more likely to have serious problems from COVID-19.
By Sunday, Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services reported 5,674 doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered in the state.
Meanwhile some of the first doses of the Moderna vaccine, the second to receive emergency use authorization in the U.S., arrived in Alaska this week.
