Health care staff at Will County hospitals doing well after first shot of Pfizer vaccine

So far, staff at both AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet and Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox are tolerating their first does of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Both hospitals vaccinated staff beginning Wednesday afternoon. St. Joe’s has vaccinated approximately 700 employees as of Friday afternoon and will continue vaccinating through Sunday, according to Sajani Patel, vice president of operations at St. Joe’s.

Silver Cross will complete their vaccinations on Saturday, according to Dr. Christopher Udovich, Silver Cross Hospital chief medical officer.

Patel said morale is still high at the hospital regarding the vaccine. Emergency room nurse Hannah Puhr, who said Wednesday that she’s cared for COVID patients every day through the pandemic, was the first to receive the vaccine.

Since then, Puhr has encouraged many of her teammates to receive the vaccines, Patel said.

“The hospital was buzzing with excitement this morning,” Patel said. “People are sharing what time they’re getting their vaccines. It’s been an exciting couple of days.”

Any side effects? Just a few minor allergic reactions, Patel said. For instance, one person had “a little bit” of tightness in her throat about five minutes after she received the injection, but that resolved within the 15-minute observation time, Patel said.

No one who received the vaccine needed any medical care, including Benadryl or epinephrine, Patel said. No was hospitalized, she added.

“It’s been good news so far,” Patel said.

Patel herself was vaccinated earlier on Friday once vaccinations were opened up to staff who worked inside the hospital, she said. She had no side effects, not even muscle soreness, she said.

“I feel great,” Patel said.

Udovich said, he was one of the first people to receive the vaccine at Silver Cross on Wednesday. He, too, had no reaction, not even soreness.

“Actually this was a lot easier than the flu shot I had a couple months ago,” Udovich said. “With the flu shot, I was actually sore the next day. This time, I was not.”

Like St. Joe’s, Udovich said no one has experienced a serious allergic reaction or needed medication or medical treatment. No one has missed a day of work due to the vaccine, he said.

And no one has fainted, he added.

“They’re [staff] is very enthusiastic about it and I’m very grateful,” Udovich said. “I’m just happy we’ve been able to get people in and out of the clinic efficiently. We’ve had no big bottleneck or people waiting for hours.”