Genesis Health System has started to vaccinate employees who take care of COVID-19 patients. Today, the health care group is vaccinating 30 to 50 employees who are on the front lines, directly taking care of COVID-19 patients in its hospitals.
Dr. Kurt Andersen is the Chief Medical Officer for the system. By the end of the week, he says that number will increase to 300 workers per day who will receive their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine. That'll be around 1,500 Genesis employees which has approximately 5,000 workers. Residents and employees of long term care centers will also get vaccinated in this first group.
The next set of recipients will be other health care workers who also encounter people infected with the coronavirus in other settings.
This week, the Genesis Convenient Care clinic on West 53rd Street in Davenport is where employees in Iowa will get vaccinated. And as soon as it receives vaccine supplied by the State of Illinois, Genesis will begin giving injections to employees at its Silvis campus.