Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Spc. Arielle Castro, a preventive medicine specialist with Weed Army Community...... read more read more
FORT IRWIN, Calif. – Weed Army Community Hospital continues to vaccinate service members and civilians in accordance with the Department of Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine population schema and has begun giving the second round of doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The start of the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine brings Fort Irwin one step closer to Phase 2 of the population schema, which, according to the DOD, is when healthy uniform personnel and TRICARE beneficiaries who did not meet the criteria for Phase 1 can start to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Currently, more and more individuals eligible under Phase 1 continue to opt in to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including those who previously had the virus.
Staff at Weed ACH diagnosed Sgt. Traevion Williams, a patient administration department clerk with Weed ACH, with COVID-19 in July 2020.
The 28-year-old San Bernardino, Calif. native said he first lost his sense of taste and smell, followed by a high fever and excruciating body aches from COVID-19, which played a part in his decision to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I didn’t want to have to deal with [those symptoms] again if I didn’t have to,” he said. “If taking the vaccine was going to limit the chance of feeling like that again, I would rather just take the vaccine.”
He also chose to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his family, he said.
“My mom is a registered nurse and she [got the COVID-19 vaccine], so that gave me more comfort to take it knowing she’s willingly taking the vaccine,” Williams said.
Spc. Arielle Castro, a 20-year-old preventive medicine specialist with Weed ACH, said she originally did not want to receive the vaccine, but changed her mind because of her family and her mother’s health.
“If I want to go back home and see my mother … I feel like everybody would feel better if I got [the COVID-19 vaccine],” said the Leominster, Mass., native. “I wouldn’t mind enduring the two days after getting the vaccine with the side effects in order to be able to go home.”
Side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine differ from person to person, with the most common side effect experienced by those who have already received the vaccine on Fort Irwin being arm soreness at the site of the injection.
Williams received his first of the two-dose sequence of the COVID-19 vaccine December 23 with the first wave of Phase 1-eligible personnel and said he experienced arm soreness and a minor headache.
Castro said she experienced symptoms including fever, body aches and chills, which are also normal side effects according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both Castro and Williams said the side effects went away in a few days.
Once all individuals who are eligible and opt in to receive the vaccine under Phase 1 are vaccinated and Weed ACH receives additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, Fort Irwin will move to Phase 2.
For more information on Weed Army Community Hospital’s COVID-19 efforts, visit https://weed-irwin.tricare.mil/.
| Date Taken: | 01.25.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 01.27.2021 22:04 |
| Story ID: | 387761 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Hometown: | SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 206 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Weed ACH continues COVID-19 vaccinations, by Kimberly Hackbarth, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
