Frontline workers receive Pfizer vaccine in Elkhart County

ELKHART, Ind. — Today certainly will go down in history, as the Pfizer vaccine was administered publicly in Elkhart County. The county stands alongside the nation, as frontline workers hope to set an for all that is the vaccine is safe and effective.

In what was an emotional day in Goshen, healthcare workers receiving the vaccine have hope again, and feel we are one step closer to the end of this pandemic.

“I feel such a sigh of relief, that we are finally making efforts to, improve the health of our community, this is a huge dent, in the fight against Covid,” said the Patient Care Services Director for Goshen Health Stephen Garber.

Health officials at Goshen Health, while receiving the vaccine, are stressing that the dent created will only improve if residents choose to take this vaccine.

“When you think of your two main choices of, do I get the vaccine to prevent the virus, or take my chances with the virus, the vaccine is the best choice all day long,” said the CEO and President of Goshen Health Randy Christophel.

As more people opt for the vaccine to prevent the further spread of the virus, healthcare workers will not have to experience the crushing feeling of losing more Covid patients.

“ICU nurses, we’ve often felt very demoralized, because we have lost patients in our ICU, and we haven’t been able to save them all,” said Julie Jacobson, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit at Goshen Health.

At times during the pandemic, it was hard to have any hope, but now with an available vaccine with a 95% effectiveness rate, healthcare workers see a light at the end of the tunnel.

“The care they’ve been given in the hospital, is good care, but when it doesn’t change what’s happening with that patient, receiving a vaccine and having a vaccine available to us as health care providers is a sigh of hope,” said Garber.

It is a monumental day for Elkhart County, but frontline workers believe this day will help change the world as well.

“I truly believe that it’s the beginning of the healing for our community, for our nation, and really for the world,” said Jacobson.

Those healthcare workers who received this vaccine today can now attempt to bring some sense of normalcy back into their lives.

“Today I want to get the vaccine because I believe that I want to protect my own family members, my parents who I haven’t been able to see for over a year, because I’ve been on the front lines, so this gives me an opportunity to go see them now,” said Jacobson.

Healthcare workers will continue to be vaccinated within the county, with plans for the community to shortly follow.