SUGAR LAND, Texas — It’s the shot of hope they’ve been waiting for. Early Wednesday morning, frontline workers in Fort Bend County got their first COVID-19 vaccines, including hospital workers at Houston Methodist Hospital in Sugar Land.
ICU nurse Krystal Hopson was one of the first to get vaccinated in the county, and the first to get the Pfizer COVID-19 shot at the facility.
"Being in the ICU and seeing so many people dealing with it, the patients, their families, and not only them but my co-workers as well, you pray for a blessing, and sometimes God sends it in the form of this vaccine,” Hopson said.
It was an emotional day for the hospital's Director of Pharmacy and new dad Raj Desai. Desai was the second person at the hospital to get vaccinated.
"I actually recently had a premature newborn, and being around him, we were wondering how me being in the hospital, how difficult it might be handling him safely," Desai said.
It's a fear Desai said subsided immediately with a single shot.
"When I go home today, I hope to spend a lot of time with him,” he said.
By the end of this week, hospital leaders say 2,000 employees at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital will be vaccinated.
This comes as COVID-19 cases recently spiked in Fort Bend County. Last week, county Judge K.P. George moved the county's risk level category back to code red, hoping to encourage folks to take more precautions.
Dr. Timothy Sitter, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, also got vaccinated Wednesday. Sitter believes Judge George made the right call.
"I think by him jumping on board early has kept it from getting to the numbers we saw in the early parts of the year,” Sitter said.
While the vaccine is a huge step forward in the fight against COVID-19, health experts say it could be months before we see its impact. Until then, they say masking up and social distancing remains our best line of defense.