SAN ANTONIO – The decorations on the Morningside at the Meadows campus show the holiday season is already here.
Soon, a COVID-19 vaccine could be, too.
Becky Purcell, a resident at Morningside Manor, a nursing home on the San Antonio campus, said the vaccine’s come just as residents needed a boost in morale.
“It’s like having two Christmases at the same time,” Purcell said.
About 300 residents and staff at the nursing home and the assisted living facility on the campus should be among the first priority group for getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Though more than 28,000 doses have been allocated to Bexar County hospitals, so far, the staff at Morningside still don’t know exactly when doses will become available for them.
Dion Munoz, the assisted living manager and “infection preventionist” at the campus, said they have been working with CVS Pharmacy— which has not yet been allocated any doses— to set up clinics ad administer the vaccine. Munoz said they are waiting for the pharmacy to tell them the expected arrival dates.
“The expectation is to have first shots in arms by the first week of January,” Munoz said.
The vaccine is a “light at the end of the tunnel,” he said with “greater peace of mind for our staff and for our residents, our family members.”
Purcell looks forward to the freedom a vaccine will help provide, though she says she knows it will take time to get both shots, then more time for the vaccine to begin working and help slow the spread of COVID-19.
“But then after that, the doors are going to open again,” Purcell said. “Friends can come to visit again. I can go out and visit with my friends.”
Morningside doesn’t plan to rely completely on the vaccine for protection, though. Other precautions, like screening visitors and wearing masks, will stay in place.
Because a light at the end of the tunnel can offer hope, but it also proves you’re still in the tunnel.
Related: Doctors, health care workers among the first to get COVID-19 vaccine in San Antonio