Phoebe preps for COVID-19 vaccine

ALBANY, Ga. – As the pandemic continues to take lives and affect Americans , Phoebe Health System announced that they are already preparing for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Phoebe hopes to use its annual influenza vaccination program for employees as a trial run to ensure efficient delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations once a vaccine for the virus is approved and distributed.

“We normally provide flu vaccines over a period of a couple of months to our nearly 5,000 members of the Phoebe Family.  This year, we will condense that time frame significantly,” says Scott Steiner, Phoebe Putney Health System (PPHS) Pres. & CEO, “It’s an opportunity to stress our system, so we can learn what our weaknesses are.  When we get an allotment of COVID-19 vaccines, we’ll be better prepared to administer them quickly to our healthcare workers and the community.”

Multiple potential vaccines are now being tested in human trials.  There is no timetable for when any vaccine may be approved and ready for wide distribution, but the National Governors Association has already sent guidance to governors to help states prepare for vaccine distribution.