Nick Martinez said he "wanted to set an example" in becoming the first Bryan Health staff member to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.
Martinez, a registered nurse who works in one of Bryan's intensive care units, was the first of about 300 of the health system staffers who were vaccinated Monday after Bryan received its first shipment of the vaccine, which received emergency use approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday.
"I think this is pretty cool to be the first one to get the vaccine here at Bryan," he said, calling the inoculation "almost less painful than the flu shot."
Bryan Medical Center CEO John Woodrich said Bryan received a shipment of 975 doses of the vaccine at 8 a.m., started vaccinating staff members by 12:30 p.m. and had about 300 hospital staffers and another 80 or so providers in its health network vaccinated by 3 p.m.
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"I'm really excited over this," Woodrich said. "It's a great day."
CHI Health also received a shipment of 975 doses of the vaccine Monday morning at its Bergan Mercy hospital in Omaha and also started vaccinating employees there.
CHI Health Vice President of Pharmacy Mike Tiesi said the health system expected to receive additional vaccine doses at St. Elizabeth in Lincoln and St. Francis in Grand Island either later Monday or on Tuesday.
"It is an early Christmas present," said Tiesi, who called the vaccine "hope in a bottle."
CEO Cliff Robertson called Monday a "historic day."
"We all believe this is the beginning of the end" of the pandemic," he said.
Last week, Robertson said the health system expected to receive 5,800 doses as part of the state's initial allocation, with about 975 of those going to St. Elizabeth in Lincoln.
Taylor Wilson, a spokesman for Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, said it was not expecting to receive vaccine shipments until Tuesday.
Gov. Pete Ricketts said Nebraska's initial vaccine shipment would total about 15,600 doses and will go to eight hospitals. He has not identified those hospitals, but some have publicly said they would be receiving the vaccines. The state expected to receive 4,875 doses Monday, according to a Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services news release.
Dr. Gary Anthone, the state's chief medical officer, said Monday morning he expected all hospitals receiving vaccine in the first shipment to have it within 24-48 hours.
Woodrich said Bryan was expecting another shipment Tuesday. Its total allotment for the first wave of Pfizer shipments is a little over 2,900 doses.
A second vaccine produced by Moderna is expected to be approved for emergency use this week, and will likely be shipped out next week. Anthone said he expects Nebraska to receive both a first shipment of Moderna vaccine and a second shipment of Pfizer vaccine next week, although he did not provide an estimated number of either.
The Moderna vaccine, which does not need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures like the Pfizer vaccine, will likely be used in more rural areas of the state, officials have said.
As part of the state's vaccination plan, front-line health care workers will be first to get the vaccine, followed by staff and residents of nursing homes. Front-line workers include emergency medical services personnel, and Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez said Monday that the Health Department expects to be able to administer vaccine to emergency medical technicians with both Lincoln Fire & Rescue and rural volunteer departments this week. Woodrich said those doses will come from Bryan's vaccine allotment.
The second wave of vaccinations will include other first responders and other essential workers such as teachers and transportation workers.
Anthone said state officials had initially been told Nebraska would receive a combined 104,000 vaccine doses, from both Pfizer and Moderna, this month, and it still expects to receive that amount.
Ricketts said it's likely to be April before the vaccine is available to the general public in the state.
When it does become available to the public, it's important for as many people as possible to get vaccinated, said Dr. Kevin Reichmuth, a pulmonologist for Bryan Health.
"Truly for this to make a difference, to have an impact on ending the pandemic, we need a large percentage of the population, like 60-70%, to get this vaccination to make that difference," Reichmuth said, "so I would recommend it — I am recommending it."
The vaccine is a "light at the end of the tunnel," he said, "but I think we still have a relatively long tunnel to get through."