COVID-19 vaccine is the only way to beat it, says first McLaren Flint nurse to receive shot – MLive.com

FLINT, MI -- Nurse Patrick Bryant was the first McLaren Flint worker to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.

After treating many sick people in the COVID-19 unit and watching the virus spike twice, Bryant said the vaccine is the only way to beat the virus.

Im starting to see hope, he said, minutes after receiving his first shot Thursday, Dec. 17 in the Ballenger Auditorium at the hospital.

Medical workers at McLaren Flint were some of the first in the city to receive the vaccine.

Five medical workers stationed in the hospitals COVID-19 unit were vaccinated at a media event Thursday morning.

Among the group were two registered nurses, a nurse anesthetist, respiratory therapist and a physician.

Bryant will get the second dose of the vaccine on Jan. 6.

He lived in a mobile home for more than a month as he worked through the first COVID-19 spike from mid-March through April.

I parked it behind the McLaren Hospitality House for about a month and a half and worked almost every single day, he said. I was on almost every COVID floor running codes and taking bodies to the morgue. Ive seen a lot of that. It took a toll on us.

He said he lived away from home to protect his family.

Now, Michigan is in the midst of a second spike. From Dec. 6 to Jan. 7, Bryant said he has only had two days off.

A lot of nurses are getting sick and I feel like I should be here to pick up the slack, he said.

Bryant has three daughters, ages 16, 20 and 21. His oldest daughter will graduate from nursing school in the spring. His mother retired from nursing this year.

He said he is proud to be part of a family of nurses.

We didnt sign up for this but Im just glad I could be there to help, he said. It gives a whole new meaning to nursing.

People who are wary of the vaccine should go out and research what scientists and medical workers have to say about it, Bryant said.

Physician Ravinder Singala was the fifth medical worker to receive the vaccine.

I hope other employees and other people will follow in my footsteps and get the vaccination to reduce the number of cases so the pandemic can end, Singala said.

In his 11 years as a physician, Singala said he never imagined a year like 2020.

Its actually been very horrifying to see these patients go through the hospital with some of them surviving and some of them, unfortunately, not surviving, he said.

The vaccination is needed to end the pandemic, Singala said, whos worked at McLaren Flint for nine of those years.

He added those who are hesitant to receive the vaccine should do more research.

Follow the science, read the information, dont be judgmental and stop following conspiracy theories, Singala said. When you listen to a friend or a family member who says Dont get it. Its a conspiracy. Or We dont know what the long term affects are. Remind them there is a whole group who has already taken the vaccination trial series and done wonderful.

Singalas family has also had multiple generations work in a variety of medical fields. His wife had to leave her job as a nurse practitioner to be with their 8- and 9-year-old children through the pandemic.

Hopefully with the vaccination we can get the kids back to school, people back to work and return our community back to normal, he said.

Lana Mesack was the first nurse to administer the COVID-19 vaccine at McLaren Flint.

Its very exciting, she said. Were all very hopeful that this will change the way we have to live right now, give us a little more freedom and help our staff safe -- our frontline providers -- keep them from getting this virus.

Workers on the COVID-19 floor are the first to get the vaccine.

Mesack is in nursing education and will receive the vaccine after the COVID-19 floor workers have been vaccinated.

Hopefully this vaccine will mean that our front line staff are protected and they dont have to expose themselves or their family members, she said. Hopefully we can start seeing our families. A lot of our nursing staff have isolated themselves from their immediate family members to protect them. This gives hope that maybe soon theyll be able to spend some time with family and that the patients were seeing here will decrease and we can have a little more normalcy in our lives.

Read more:

Michigan reports 4,024 new coronavirus cases, 190 new deaths

Covenant HealthCare staff roll up sleeves for first round of COVID-19 vaccine in Saginaw

More than 500 Memorial Healthcare hospital employees volunteer to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Live COVID-19 vaccination to include Michigans Dr. Joneigh Khaldun

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COVID-19 vaccine is the only way to beat it, says first McLaren Flint nurse to receive shot - MLive.com