PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — South Dakota’s three largest health care systems and two smaller systems will be the first to get the coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available.
Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon Wednesday said that the Sanford, Avera, and Monument Health systems and the Prairie Lakes system in Watertown and the Mobridge Hospital would be the first recipients.
She says the 7,800 initial doses of the vaccine are not just for doctors and nurses but for anyone who helps take care of patients with the coronavirus.
Malsam-Rysdon says when the first group of frontline health care workers receive the first of two vaccinations, they’ll be scheduled for the second Pfizer shot 21 to 28 days later. They’ll also get a card and reminders.
She said the next tier of vaccine recipients will be residents and staff of long-term care facilities.
State epidemiologist Josh Clayton says people who are vaccinated will report any side effects they have. To check the vaccine’s efficacy, Clayton says they ask new COVID-19 patients if they have been vaccinated or not.
There’s no scheduled delivery date yet for the vaccines.
