Erie s eventual triumph over COVID-19 might have started Thursday afternoon with a quick poke in Tylesha Williams right arm.
Williams, a 26-year-old patient care technician at UPMC Hamot, is believed to be the first Erie County resident to have received the COVID-19 vaccine. She and nine coworkers were vaccinated during a short ceremony in the Erie hospital s ground-floor conference room.
Nine Saint Vincent Hospital employees were vaccinated late Thursday afternoon and additional staff at both hospitals were expected to receive the vaccines later in the day. I didn t feel the shot at all, said Williams, an Erie resident who works with COVID-19 patients at Hamot. I m so happy there s a vaccine, so that I don t have a risk of transmitting it to my family or coworkers.