OU Health Vaccinates First Staff Members

OU Health administered its first round of COVID-19 vaccine to 90 employees and providers Dec. 16. The very first doses of vaccine were administered at the same time to five front-line workers, representing the team of healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 and other critically ill and injured patients at OU Health hospitals.

Those receiving the first vaccine were:

• Linda Kendall, Environmental Services
• Andrew Wilburn, CTA, Medicine Specialty
• Brian Warkentine, R.N., Medical Intensive Care Unit
• Brent Brown, M.D., Medical Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit
• Anngela Whittington, RRT, Respiratory Therapy

The number of doses health systems received in the first batch will not be enough to vaccinate all employees and providers, so the Oklahoma State Department of Health established a system for administering the vaccine in phases. When preparing the list for the first phase of employees to be vaccinated, OU Health used a risk-based assessment, identifying those regularly caring for, or coming into contact with COVID-19 at OU Health University of Oklahoma Medical Center, OU Health Physicians clinics, Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, OU Health Edmond Medical Center, OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, OU Health Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, OU Health Sciences Center researchers and OU Health Sciences Center colleges. As additional shipments of vaccine arrive, we will move as rapidly as possible through each phase to offer the vaccine to all employees and providers.

The vaccine was administered by OU College of Pharmacy and Fran and Earl Ziegler College of Nursing healthcare professionals and students, as well as other trained healthcare workers.

Read more about the vaccine at www.ouhealth.com/vaccine.