COVID-19
ALERT: Our central Rochester Regional Health team is working hard to call eligible patients (currently those who are age 65+) of Rochester Regional Health and affiliated offices to schedule their COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Our vaccination clinics are currently by appointment only. Patients do not need to contact us to schedule a vaccine appointment; we will contact them as supply allows. Please continue to check our website and social media accounts for the latest information.
Access to the new COVID-19 vaccines are first given to healthcare personnel, people 65 years and older, people at high risk for severe illness, and workers in essential and critical industries.
By providing care to those who are or might be infected with COVID-19, many healthcare workers have a high risk of being exposed and getting sick with COVID-19. Examples of healthcare personnel include:
“Rochester Regional Health received its first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during the week of December 14, 2020, following the Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA,” shared Dr. Robert Mayo, Chief Medical Officer of Rochester Regional Health.
“Our clinical teams continue to work closely with federal, state and local health agencies to distribute and administer the vaccines among our team and in the community as more doses become available.”
Because the risk for severe illness and death from COVID-19 increases with age, seniors 65 and over are next in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Seniors 65 and older are at a higher risk of hospitalization, illness, intensive care, needing a ventilator to help them breathe, or death from COVID-19 than younger demographics. They are eight times more likely to be hospitalized and 220 times more likely to die from COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Including those who have underlying medical conditions, such as cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, heart conditions, immunocompromised state, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, smoking and type 2 diabetes.
Essential and critical industries is identified by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as roles including those in law enforcement, public safety and other first responders, education, food and agriculture, energy, water and wastewater, transportation and logistics, public works and infrastructure, communications and information technology, and other community- or government-based operations.
In clinical trials of more than 40,000 participants, the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective against COVID-19. In clinical trials of more than 30,000 participants, the Moderna vaccine was 94% effective against COVID-19.
“The COVID-19 vaccines are comparatively highly effective in preventing infection when you look at the other vaccines we regularly get or provide our children,” explains Dr. Maryrose Laguio-Vila, an infectious disease expert at Rochester Regional Health.
To get more information on the distribution of vaccines in the United States, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website.
