Health care workers at ChristianaCare receive Pfizer vaccine

The vaccine rollout continues throughout the area. Health care workers at ChristianaCare in Wilmington received the Pfizer vaccine on Friday offering a sign of hope during an uncertain time. 

While the pure scale may be hard to comprehend when it comes to COVID-19 infection rates and deaths, far too many know its uncompromising pain on a personal level. There are so many like clinical psychologist Dr. Nicole Duffy at ChristianaCare.

"My stepfather Mark Pastor, he passed away on April 7. This is him and he was the smartest scientist that I’ve ever known and if he was here he would be here getting a vaccine as well,’ she said.

On Friday, at ChristianaCare’s Wilmington hospital hundreds of staff were vaccinated with the recently approved Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Duffy became emotional after sitting down for her turn, overwhelmed at how hard this fight has been.

"I feel so grateful, so honored and so humbled. It’s surreal. It’s surreal," she explained.

She said her stepdad was skiing with joy in early March and by April had passed away due to COVID-19.

"I often think about the nurse practitioner who was on the phone with my mother when my stepfather was passing on. I think about that good side nurse practitioner and how many families she’s had to do this with,"

Dr. Marci Drees, Infection Prevention Officer at ChristianaCare says those phone calls may finally decrease.

"This is the beginning of the end. We’ll still have to do our other tools, masking, distancing, but this is what we need to do to get to the other side," she said.

She also says she wants healthcare workers to lead by example, showing the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety to the country.

"We know that for any vaccine the most important factor of whether a patient will agree to be vaccinated is if they have a healthcare worker that’s recommended it," Dr. Drees explained.

Dr. Duffy hopes her stepdad is looking down at all the progress her community has made and has just one final message to him.

 "I love you and miss you."

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