Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital
Second Dose of COVID Vaccine
Paul Hayden, a U.S. Army Veteran who served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, received his second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital began administering second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to frontline health care personnel and high-risk Veterans residing in the facility’s Community Living Center yesterday, Jan. 5, 2021.
As part of the initial group of 37 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers to offer a COVID-19 vaccine, Truman VA began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 15, 2020. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine requires a second dose 21 days after an initial vaccination is administered.
“We are excited that we’ve received additional doses of the vaccine so that we now can begin offering a higher level of protection to more of our Veterans,” said Patricia Hall, PhD, FACHE, medical center director of Truman VA. “We are dedicated to making sure that all Veterans who receive VA care are offered the vaccine.”
Implementation of Truman VA’s COVID-19 vaccine program included an initial limited-supply, where high-risk inpatient Veterans and staff began receiving vaccinations. With additional vaccine now available, Truman VA will increase the number of Veterans who will be offered the opportunity to be vaccinated.
“We began vaccinating our high-risk Veterans the first day we started administering the vaccine,” Hall said. “Since then, we have continued to vaccinate our Veterans. At this time, we are contacting our most high-risk Veterans by telephone to ensure they have the opportunity to be vaccinated. Vaccines currently are administered by appointment in our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic here at Truman VA. We ask that our Veterans remain patient and that they standby for a telephone call from Truman VA to schedule their COVID-19 vaccine appointment.”
Veterans seeking additional information can receive updates through VA’s COVID-19 Vaccine Keep Me Informed Tool, by visiting the VA Coronavirus Vaccine FAQs webpage, by contacting their health care team, by visiting Truman VA’s website or by visiting Truman VA’s Facebook page.
