Area VA facility expecting COVID vaccine soon

Officials at John J. Pershing Veteran Administration (VA) Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, are expecting what is being termed “a preliminary supply” of COVID-19 vaccine doses as early as next week.

The VA will inoculate its nursing home residents initially, following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which specify health care personnel and those in long-term care are to get the vaccine first, said Drew A. DeWitt, the medical center director at Pershing.

Long-term care patients are slated to receive the Moderna vaccine, which was endorsed Thursday by a government advisory panel. At press time, it had not been granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration although approval is considered imminent.

Veterans who do not live at the facility will be contacted and asked whether they wish to receive a vaccination.

“There is no need for (veterans) to put themselves at risk unnecessarily by dropping by without a appointment,” said Angela Smith, public affairs officer for Pershing.

In its news release Thursday, VA Pershing said resistance to the virus is approximately 55% after the first dose and around 95% after the second.

All veterans expecting to visit the Pershing facility for a vaccine dose are encouraged to wear a mask, observe physical distancing, wash their hands frequently and minimize trips to public areas.