Hunter
03/01/21
The coronavirus vaccines seem to be working among the front-line health care workers who were among the first to get them.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that in the two months since front-line health care workers began receiving the vaccine, UnityPoint Health-Cedar Rapids officials say they are seeing a reduction of the number of new cases among their staff.
They add that there’s a distinct difference between those workers who have been vaccinated and those who haven’t.
After about four weeks, it was found that the rate of positive tests among those who weren’t given or didn’t take the vaccine continued to rise, while those who were vaccinated saw a much better result.
Dr. Ignatius Brady is a physician at UnityPoint Health. He studied the data and told the paper that infections reached a near zero rate of increase among health care workers who were vaccinated.
Over 4000 health care workers in Cedar Rapids and Animosa were studied over a period from the middle of December to the early part of February.
Public health officials in Johnson and Linn County say that Phase 1A inoculations are nearly complete but will continue to be fluid due to job changes, birthdays, or people changing their minds about getting the vaccine.
They also say that demand among those in Phase 1B for the vaccine far outweigh the supply, but remain hopeful for better circumstances now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has gotten approval.