COVID-19 vaccination campaign begins with Vermont hospitals
December 16, 2020 GMT
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is beginning with the inoculations of medical professionals across the state before expanding to residents of long-term care facilities, and then the general population.
The first dose of the vaccine was administered Tuesday to a nurse at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. Later Tuesday, five nurses were vaccinated at the Rutland Regional Medical Center.
On Wednesday, vaccinations are scheduled to begin at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington.
Vaccinations will begin soon at the state’s nursing homes. Front-line medical workers get first priority for the vaccines, followed by nursing home residents.
Three locally based agencies, the Mentor Connector, the Turning Point Center and the Homeless Prevention Center, were chosen to receive grants from the Bowse Health Trust, an organization with ties to Rutland Regional Medical Center.
Jamie Bentley, community impact coordinator for the community health improvement team at the hospital, said the COVID-19 pandemic made things different this year causing a delay in the process.
COVID was added to the list of priorities when assessing the applications.
Members of the trust committee use the Community Health Needs Assessment to identify priorities. But the last was done in 2018 before the pandemic.
COVID joined priorities that already had been determined through the assessment like housing and health care; supporting the aging community; child care and parenting; and mental health including substance abuse.