GEORGETOWN — As she waited in observation for 15 minutes, just seconds removed from receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in her right arm, Sophia Hansen’s eyes lit up over her face mask donned with holiday icons.
One mention of her grandchildren, and she couldn’t wait to break the news.
“We’re going to have Christmas in March, at our house,” Hansen said.
Hansen, among those 70 and older that are now eligible to receive the vaccine, says that the delayed holiday plans have been in the works for months — a cumulative resolve for her family to be “safe” before making the trek from Virginia to Murrells Inlet.
The square “I took my shot!” sticker she wore just below her right shoulder wasn’t just a celebration of the moment, it was a badge of honor after nearly a year of “doing the right thing.”
“As hard as it was, especially for our grandsons, I think it was a good thing,” said Hansen, who took the vaccine alongside her husband, Al.
“They were more worried about us than we were. Everybody is celebrating today.”
The Hansens were two of a consistent flow of seniors at the Tidelands Health vaccine site in Georgetown, one of two for the medical outlet, the other located in Murrells Inlet.
As of Thursday, Tidelands had administered 10,000 doses of the vaccine, including 69 percent of the outlet’s frontline workers, 1,300 mission-critical workers in the community and nearly 6,000 seniors.
But nearly 30,000 seniors remain, with Tidelands relying on current in-house doses to vaccinate the first 8,000 seniors — but the pace after that will be dependent on supply.
Gayle Resetar, Tidelands’ chief operation officer, says that it can handle doing 4,000 per week, but unknown inventory levels will likely limit how quickly in can make its way through the significant waiting list.
“We have plenty of capacity and with the regional sites, we have plenty of people with plenty of infrastructure,” Resetar said. “We're pretty proud of what we've been able to do and we'd love to keep doing it, but again it's going to be all about the supply.”
This includes the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine that is to be doled out in 17 to 23 days.
Due to mandates from Gov. Henry McMaster, Tidelands Health is not keeping that second dose set aside, instead exhausting its entire supply with a promise from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and the Governor’s Office that the second doses will be available when needed.
To combat potential shortages, Tidelands has also committed to stretching its supply as far as it can.
At both vaccine facilities, the drawing from the Pfizer vials has been centralized, a process that utilizes precise measures in order to get 20 percent more doses than expected.
With the community need in the thousands, squeezing every possible drop out of every vial will add up quickly and allow Tidelands to serve more people.
They’ve even brought nurses out of semi-retirement to aid in the conservation effort.
“It all comes down to technique, and we have the best of the best doing it,” Resetar said.
At the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, Tidelands Health did see some reimbursement for testing, allowing it to operate at a break-even pace.
That is not the case currently, as beyond the Medicare co-pay that is billed behind the scenes due to government mandate, there has been no discussion of reimbursement for the vaccine process.
With the two vaccine clinics, Tidelands has added 200 temporary workers to support the clinics, from registration experts to vaccine distributors to nurses that observe patients for 15 minutes after the shot being given.
“We just want to do right by our community, that’s what it comes down to,” Resetar said. “If we can help people stay out of the hospital, we will do whatever it takes.”
Tidelands has committed to weekly updates for all of those that have raised their hand to get the vaccine, as to get through 30,000 patients will take weeks, due to on-hand supply.
Resetar admits that she knows this can be frustrating for a community that has dealt with COVID-19 for nearly a year, calling on for a bit more patience as Tidelands manages a complex administrative process that extends to not only nurses, but also to the technology personnel needed to support the effort.
“Be assured, we are going to get to you,” Resetar said.
Tidelands isn’t alone, either, as Grand Strand Health exhausted its first doses in less than three days this past week, administering 1,100 total vaccines to mostly seniors. Grand Strand had doled out 6,000 vaccines prior to those three days.
And as every medical outlet grapples with vaccine distribution, the intensity of COVID-19 within hospital walls continues to be a problem, particularly in the ICU, where Tidelands Health is still functioning at more than 100 percent capacity.
With mass vaccinations still months away from being a reality, Resetar pointed to ongoing efforts to educate the public on why masking, social distancing and hygiene continue to be paramount to allow the vaccine the opportunity to work.
And, in the absence of a public health mandate from Horry County Council and the state, Resetar believes that it shouldn’t take a legislative branch to do what is right.
“Every six hours, there’s new information out there, including things where we hear that new strains may be more contagious,” Resetar said. “All the more reason that masking has to go on, just got to double down on that. We’ve made it this far. Sure, I would like to get the vaccine out faster, but in the absence of that, we need to double down on the policies and protocols that we know are effective.”
And while hospitalizations are atop her mind, Resetar can’t help but take a moment to reflect upon the momentous happenings that surround her at the Georgetown vaccine clinic.
There’s a hope to it all, and one that has changed the tone of the conversation for both Resetar and her colleagues.
“It's miraculous, really. It's just so exciting that we're on this path,” Resetar said. “We're gonna have 8,000 older people in our community that are probably not going to get hospitalized now for the public and see their grandkids."
“It recharges you. Sure, it's been a long year. But this is the good stuff.”
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