Rush Prepares For COVID Vaccine Rollout; 'To Think That We're Here Is Kind Of Amazing To Me'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There have been hundreds of hours of planning.
Now all they need is the COVID vaccine. Chicago hospitals, for the first time, sharing what their vaccine rollout plans look like, as they wait final approval this weekend from the FDA and CDC.
CBS 2's Chris Tye got a first hand look at the transformation, which is now complete at Rush, where front line staff will be making vaccination appointments in the next few days.
Over the next 48 hours, staff will begin registering for vaccination appointments, as an unprecedented medical rollout is about to make its Chicago debut.
"To think that we're here is kind of amazing to me."
Here are the makeshift vaccination stations, 10 in all, inside the Rush lobby. Tier 1 staff, those treating COVID patients, will start filling them up possibly as early as Monday.
Pfizer drops the drug off with the city and the city brings them to Rush frozen.
"The drug is going to come to us at ultra low storage of negative 70 to negative 80," said Erin Shaughnessy, Rush Director of Pharmacy.
Arriving vials thaw on site. Each one contains five doses and is brought to a refrigerator next to the clinic.
In appointments lasting anywhere from seven to 10 minutes each, the hospital is prepared to vaccinate 1,000 staffers per day.
"We are taking about a vaccination effort that is never before seen in our time," said Doctor Alexander Tomich of Rush Infection Prevention.
Contingency plans for the unknown are on the books. Doctors, nurses, techs and med students will administer the shots. After their shot, staff will go for brief observation. They receive a card proving vaccination. And lastly, they register for their second Pfizer shot 21 days later.
"This is surreal to me," said Rush ER Doctor Meetah Shah. "We have been doing this for months and we're just trudging through it."
Shah will be in that first batch and so will her husband whose an ER doctor at another hospital.
"Probably something a lot of households aren't having the conversation," Shah said. "We literally had the conversation who is going to get the vaccine first and let's make sure we don't do it the same day so we can watch each other."
As they watch each other, a medical community watches as an unprecedented medical rollout begins a countdown now measured in hours. The staff is keenly aware they are a small sliver of the American public. Those vaccinated first will still wear masks.
Vaccinations are not required of staff, but strongly encouraged.
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