Being a COVID-19 Vaccine Provider
Overview
How did a pediatrician start giving vaccines for COVID-19 meant for adults?
I was really excited about being a vaccine provider for the community. I believe in vaccines, and as a pediatrician, we advise all of our patients to follow the vaccine schedule for children put out by the CDC and the American Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, we won an award from the State of California for giving 4000 flu shots the prior flu season, so we had the equipment and the means to be able to quickly immunize the community. Plus, although we are a pediatric office, we actually serve the whole family, and healthy adults means healthy children.
But you’re used to giving shots to children, how was it different for you administering shots to adults?
It’s true, we usually treat from birth to 21 years of age. But extraordinary times requires extraordinary measures, and when we started we were under strict restrictions to only give to healthcare workers and for those 75 years and up. And in reality, it turned into a blessing. We had a lot of the elderly talk about how this campaign was reminiscent of when they were little and got their polio shots. The oldest person who came in was 101. We met a lot of great people along the way, a lot of people from Auberry and Shaver Lake affected by the fires over the summer. They were grateful.
What were some of the challenges to give these shots?
Well as everyone knows, this was the first time this type of thing was happening. Back in December 2020 when we first applied to become a COVID vaccine provider, we hadn’t gotten our shots for ourselves yet, and we were in the middle of the post-Thanksgiving surge. The hospital was full and overflowing, and kids were sick, etc… The County was strict in approving sites for vaccines, but since we are already set up and pass all of the inspections to be a Vaccine for Children provider, we were able to be approved right away. In January, we became only the third provider to give shots in all of Fresno County, behind the Fresno Fairgrounds and Sierra Pacific Orthopedics, so the novelty of everything was challenging, from ensuring that the vaccines were at the correct temperature at all times, to timing the shots so that they didn’t spoil. We still haven’t wasted or thrown away many shots, only 5 doses out of 2000, and that’s because of recent cancellations.
Plus we had issues with misinformation, and still do actually. A lot of people come in with a lot of anxiety stemming from what they read online, but we’re used to that.
Explain.
Well, we’re a pediatric practice. We give shots all of the time. We advise all of our parents about what immunizations their child is getting, because we believe in educating our patients. A knowledgeable parent will be better prepared to give care for their child in the middle of the night that we can’t. Plus, we believe in the science of prevention of disease, something that I learned when I got my Masters in Public Health, with a specialization in epidemiology. So part of my job as a primary care physician is to educate and advise parents about their child’s care, and part of that is to re-educate parents about the science of vaccines, and the benefits of the shots their children are receiving. So when it came to educating adults about the COVID shots, it wasn’t anything new to us.
How did that Masters degree affect your outlook on the pandemic?
I was fortunate enough to get my MPH at UCLA in 1998, and I also worked at the World Health Organization in Geneva during the summer of 1997. Over there, I worked at the Department of Emerging Disease Surveillance and Control, and so one of the doctors who was there was Dr. Mike Ryan, from Ireland. He and his wife inspired me to attend medical school in Dublin, and at the beginning of the pandemic, Mike was giving daily press conferences about COVID, and I started watching them. This was January of 2020, and they were already sounding the alarm that this could be worse than SARS, so they had my attention.
And as I alluded to earlier, we talk a lot about disease prevention when we talk about public health, whether it involves wearing your bike helmet, or seat belt, or locking up firearms, or fences around the pools….. It’s all about safety, because you don’t want to be that one person who wasn’t careful. All of these outcomes, whether it’s a motor accident resulting in brain damage, accidental shootings, drownings, hospitalizations from COVID, these are all preventable incidences of trauma that are best avoided. The trauma experienced by these families can be devastating, and affect generations.
Will you be a vaccine provider when it comes to children then?
Oh, absolutely! I’m looking forward to protecting the young children. I have to remind some people that the first pediatric case that died from COVID-19 in the United States occurred at Valley Children’s Hospital, so we want all of the most vulnerable population to be protected, not just from COVID-19, but from the flu, whooping cough, tetanus. Meningitis, etc…. We’ve already started the 16 and up population, and as soon as it’s approved for the younger population, rest assured, Sang Pediatrics will be ready to protect them as well.
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We are a pediatric primary care provider for the Fresno and Clovis area. We provide multiple pediatric services for your child's healthcare. We are also available for walk-ins during our regular business hours at any of our locations.