Updated
Plans to vaccinate the Martha’s Vineyard community are underway at the hospital, with an estimated distribution to the general public in the spring and summer.
Speaking to reporters during a conference call on Wednesday, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital president and executive director, Denise Schepici, said the hospital will have a leading role in administering the vaccine to the island’s population. A team is being assembled to do the vaccine administration logistics on the Island.
“We learned a lot from our tests for COVID-19, and we want to transform this information, enhanced by the support we received from the Mass General Brigham system, to develop an intelligent and effective strategy to distribute the vaccine throughout the Island,” said Schepici.
The hospital is following the guidelines of the state and its parent company, Mass General Brigham. A graph released by the state divides the estimated distribution of the vaccine into three phases. The state is still in phase one, which includes health professionals, long-term care facilities, first responders, congregated care locations, home health workers and health professionals who provide care unrelated to COVID. Phase two is scheduled to begin later this month and run through April, and includes people with more than two comorbidities, early childhood education, K-12, transit, grocery, sanitation, public health workers, food and agriculture, adults over 65 years and then those with a comorbidity. Phase three, which includes the general public, is expected to start in April and run through June.
The distribution of the vaccine to the general public should be similar to the flu clinic held in November, with cars staged in areas around the Island, then sent to a drive-through area to receive the shot.
Claire Seguin, chief nurse and chief operating officer, said that the vaccine distribution at the hospital is going “smoothly” and that the hospital is moving on to the next phase to vaccinate all hospital staff.
The hospital also started administering second doses of vaccines to employees. In total, the hospital administered the first dose of the vaccine to 308 employees and the second dose to 100 employees.
Seguin added that all doses of the vaccine are being used by the hospital, and there is a waiting list of eligible people in case someone decides not to get the vaccine.
“We have more people wanting the vaccine than the doses available,” said Seguin. “We will continue to ensure that all doses are used.”
Schepici is asking everyone who can get a vaccine to get it as soon as the hospital can provide it.
All 26 employees and 40 residents of Windemere received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The second dose will be delivered on February 2. The vaccines were administered by a CVS team through a federal program.
Schepici said that no employee or resident of Windemere has tested positive for COVID-19 since the hospital’s last press conference on December 30. Last month, the hospital confirmed: a total of five Windemere employees tested positive for COVID-19.
On Wednesday, 13 Island veterans traveled to Hyannis for the Veterans Administration clinic to receive the first of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Murphy told The Times that the whole process took 20 minutes and was perfect. “It was really good,” said Murphy.
After receiving the injection, the veterans received information about the vaccine and were hired to return to Hyannis on February 10 for the second dose.
Any other Island veteran over 85 who is interested should contact the Veterans Administration clinic for details. The clinic plans to vaccinate veterans over the age of 75.
According to a hospital report, the Pfizer vaccine is approved for children over 16. The Modern vaccine is only approved for adults aged 18 and over. The Pfizer vaccine is 95 percent effective seven days after the second dose. The Modern vaccine is 94 percent effective 14 days after the second dose.
It is not clear to health officials how long immunity will last after people are vaccinated. Health officials are also encouraging people who took COVID-19 to still get the vaccine.
The vaccine is also being provided free of charge to people, according to the hospital record.
There were 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday – 11 at the hospital and one from a private clinician.
The hospital has performed 11,183 tests for COVID-19 since March. Of these, 481 had positive results, 10,612 negative and 90 have pending results.
There are currently two patients hospitalized with COVID-19. One patient was admitted to the hospital since January 6, the other was admitted on Tuesday. Both inpatients are in “good condition”, according to Seguin.
On Tuesday, the hospital sent a “seriously ill” patient off the Island via MedFlight. There have been four total transfers related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
The patient admitted last week was a readmission. Seguin said that once a patient reaches the 14-day post-infection mark, they are no longer contagious.
“After they are readmitted after this stage, it is for residual effects on their own bodies,” said Seguin.
Schepici again emphasized the importance of hand washing, social distance and wearing masks.
“We are on the rise because some simply refuse to do what most of us are doing, making sacrifices to stay in compliance and prevent this spread,” said Schepici. “I want to continue to encourage people to do the right thing.”
Meanwhile, TestMV has conducted 29,954 tests since June. Of these, 199 had positive results, 28,674 negative and 1,081 pending results.
The city of Aquinnah reported its first positive case in its own tests on Friday. In total, the city carried out 388 tests, of which one was positive, 375 negative and 12 pending results.
Of the total of 680 confirmed cases since March, 342 are female and 338 male. Of these, 114 are under 20 years old, 120 are 20 years old, 172 are 30 years old, 100 are 40 years old, 92 are 50 years old, 52 are 60 years old and 28 are over 70 years old.
There was a new probable case on Tuesday, totaling 45 probable cases that have been reported since March – 23 women and 22 men.
Individuals can be tested more than once to confirm the disease or to be released from isolation. This can result in a discrepancy between the number of positive individuals and the number of reported positive tests.
Of these, 26 received positive antibody tests and 19 were diagnosed symptomatically. There are eight in their 60s, 11 in their 20s, six in their 50s, eight in their 40s, four under 20, three over 70 and five over 30.
Positive test rates are also increasing on the island. In the last two weeks, the positivity rate went from 4.1% to 9.2%.
Oak Bluffs was responsible for 27 cases in the last 14 days, according to the data. The city has a positivity rate of 6.08%. Tisbury saw 28 cases reported in the past 14 days, with a positivity rate of 3.77 percent.
On Tuesday, the state notified 4,906 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with a positivity rate of 7.45 percent and an estimated 90,975 active cases across the state. There have been 67 new deaths, for a total of 12,996 COVID-19 deaths since March.
Updated to include current COVID numbers – Ed.