Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Zachary Melvin | Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Troy Williams, from Missouri City, Texas, assigned to USS...... read more read more
Subscribe
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and PCU John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) hosted a joint vaccination evolution aboard Ford, vaccinating over 110 Sailors in accordance with Department of Defense guidance to maintain mission readiness.
Unvaccinated Sailors from both ships, or those that had not completed the two shot vaccination cycle received the vaccine in Ford’s aft weapons handling area, Sept. 9-10, 2021. Both ship’s medical departments set up tables with marked paths for Sailors to follow and to help streamline the vaccination process.
“I planned the last shot exercise and took lessons learned from other carriers around the fleet on what worked and what did not,” said Lt. Marisa St. Clair, from Williamsburg, Virginia, Kennedy’s ship’s nurse. “I wanted to make it easy to follow and streamlined. We wanted to have one way in and one way out in order to track everyone through the process.”
During the two-day event, more than 110 Sailors received either their initial or final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This round of vaccinations will result in 100% vaccination for Ford Sailors without a religious or medical accommodation. Medical professionals were on hand to answer any remaining questions Sailors may have had about the vaccine’s effectiveness, safety and side effects.
“Once Sailors get checked into medical, they go through the quality assurance table to get their paperwork checked,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ana Benitez, from Harlingen, Texas, assigned to Ford’s medical department. “After that, we have a table set up to answer any last minute questions that the Sailors may have.”
The decision was made to combine Ford and Kennedy’s medical departments while utilizing Ford’s spaces in order to facilitate the maximum amount of vaccinations during the two day time period.
“Navy leadership encouraged Ford and Kennedy to combine manning and spaces for the joint vaccination evolution,” said Lt. Cmdr. Susi Murphy, from Modesto, California, Ford’s ship’s nurse. “There is a lot that goes into holding a vaccination onboard. By combining forces, manning and spaces, we have worked smarter and not harder.”
The joint vaccination process allowed Kennedy Sailors to receive the vaccines at the same time to support the ship sending Sailors to other ships and squadrons to do training and attain qualifications necessary for the command once the ship is commissioned.
“For Kennedy, a lot of our Sailors are being outsourced to other ships to do training and to get qualifications so that they are ready to go when we do move onboard,” said St. Clair. “Having them fully vaccinated allows us to have the maximum number of people who can fulfill the missions that they are required to do. It is important that we have all hands ready and healthy to go for that. Having everyone vaccinated helps the whole fleet.”
The joint effort furthered the vaccination effort aboard Ford as the command conducts maintenance and repairs in preparation for returning to Naval Station Norfolk following the six month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA).
“Our Sailors our working extremely hard throughout the ship,” said Murphy. “To send them somewhere else to get the vaccine when we can bring the service to them, should be our job. Medical’s job is to serve our ship’s force. COVID-19 can be very debilitating to a command. We should all be healthy and take precautions to stay healthy. Part of those precautions is getting vaccinated so that we are not spreading it to our friends, our shipmates or our families.”
Ford is inport at Newport News Shipyard executing her six-month period of modernization, maintenance and repairs.
For more news from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), visit www.dvidshub.net/unit/CVN78
| Date Taken: | 09.10.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.10.2021 18:46 |
| Story ID: | 404955 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 483 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ford and Kennedy Hold Joint Vaccination Evolution to Further Vaccination Effort, by PO1 Zachary Melvin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
