Registered nurse, Ryan Diehl, a frontline healthcare worker assigned to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital’s Emergency Center, shows his COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card before adding his personal information. (Photo by Maria Christina Yager.)

Hillary Justmann, a registered nurse who cares for COVID-19 patients in Blanchfield’s intensive care unit, said she gave it some thought before ultimately deciding to take the vaccine. “I was just slightly hesitant at first but after talking to some of our physicians and doing some reading I knew it was definitely something that I needed to do. So if you are unsure, do your research, talk to medical professionals, talk to other people who have gotten [vaccinated], but I would definitely recommend it.”

As manufacturing and distribution of the approved vaccines ramps up, Blanchfield, and other medical treatment facilities across the military health system will receive additional shipments from the DOD and continue to follow its phased in distribution plan to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to those who want it.

Exact dates and numbers for when the hospital will receive more shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine have not yet been determined. Soon, the hospital’s clinical services division will launch an automated telephone survey to beneficiaries enrolled at BACH with one or more high-risk factors in their medical record. The survey will help hospital officials determine how many high risk beneficiaries plan to take advantage of the vaccine.

“There are many details still being sorted out in this new process of distributing this vaccine but I’m confident that in the coming weeks and months we will see our capacity grow exponentially and we will share that information with our community,” said Birchfield.

The DOD announced it would continue to distribute vaccines in a phased-in format adding additional prioritized personnel. Ultimately, the plan is to make the vaccine available to any service member, retiree and family member, DOD civilian and certain contractors who volunteer to receive it.

In the meantime, Birchfield stressed the continued mitigation efforts which are critical to help reduce the current spike in many parts of the nation, including Tennessee which recently topped the nation with the most daily cases per 100,000 people.

“Continue to practice hand hygiene, wear a face mask or face covering when you are among people who live outside your household, continue with social distancing. We are not out of the woods yet and we must remain committed to preventing the spread of this disease that has caused so much death and suffering on our nation and the world.”

For the latest information concerning the hospital’s COVID-19 response effort, including vaccine distribution information follow BACH’s Facebook page.