Employees with close patient contact begin receiving Pfizer vaccine; older ages prioritized
As part of a historic effort to end the COVID-19 pandemic, health-care personnel at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and BJC HealthCare have begun receiving the first doses of a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Almost 10,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be administered in the coming weeks to School of Medicine and BJC employees who have direct contact with patients, work in patient-care areas or handle potentially infectious materials, such as nasal swab samples. Such patient-facing personnel have been prioritized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the state of Missouri to receive the vaccine first.