Holy Cross Medical Center, in coordination with the NM Department of Health, will start vaccinating employees and other high risk healthcare providers using the limited doses of COVID-19 vaccine received today, December 15; 150 doses of the vaccine were received this morning. Holy Cross submitted the necessary paperwork to be a distribution hub for the COVID-19 vaccine and plans to follow Department of Health guidelines when administering the doses. This means Holy Cross Medical Center will identify and prioritize individuals receiving the vaccine. This process will involve other healthcare and governmental organizations. The recipients of the doses received over the first few weeks will include hospital employees, Taos County EMS, Taos Urgent Care, local law enforcement, fire department staff, area clinics and pharmacies along with numerous other groups of healthcare providers. “In compliance with current DOH guidelines, Holy Cross has been working with managers and staff to identify high priority recipients. It’s been a team effort from within and with our community to identify the first 150 recipients of the COVID-19 Vaccine.”, said Bill Patten, CEO of Holy Cross Medical Center. The first doses of the vaccine that are being made available in New Mexico are the Pfizer vaccine. “We anticipate that we will receive weekly shipments from the state” explained Patten. “Our plan is to keep our community apprised of the situation as the vaccine distribution plan develops. Assuming delivery of the vaccine product continues, we should be able to get much of the medical community in the area vaccinated by early in January. From there we will next plan for providing the vaccine to “essential workers” throughout the community beyond those in healthcare”. For more information on the process and role of Holy Cross in the distribution of the COVID-19 Vaccine here in Taos, please view the following link: https://holycrossmedicalcenter.org/administrative-updates/how-the-covid-19-vaccine-will-be-distributed-by-holy-cross-hospital/
The State of New Mexico and Holy Cross Medical Center will announce additional phases of vaccination. Vaccination events will be made available to everyone as the supply of vaccine allows. Holy Cross, as an emergency preparedness leader within the community, has the planning, policies, and personnel in place to store and distribute vaccine as soon as it becomes available. For more information, the State’s “Draft Vaccination Plan”, is available at https://cv.nmhealth.org/draft-vaccine-plan/.
Update on December 23rd, 2020 – The state of New Mexico has released a registration platform to help organize and plan for future distributions of the vaccine. Register for the COVID-19 vaccine.
