It’s here

Jefferson County Health Center began administering the long-awaited Moderna vaccine to inoculate against the novel coronavirus.

The health center received the vaccine on Tuesday and began administering it to staff the same day to front-line health care workers, emergency responders and long-term care facility staff and residents.

The Iowa Department of Public Health allocated the number of vaccines the county received. The health center received enough doses to vaccinate about two-thirds of its employees.

'We have followed the research and development of the COVID vaccines over the last 10 months. The technology for messenger RNA vaccine dates as far back as 1978,” said Dr. Michael Greiner, the medical staff president.

'In addition, research for Ebola and Zika vaccines have aided scientists in producing this vaccine in record time,” he said. 'The RNA in the vaccine produces spike protein that induces immunity to the COVID-19 virus.

Greiner said the vaccine destroys the RNA in the body within days and does not become part of our genetic profile.

'We believe the vaccine is safe and with help create immunity from COVID-19.” Greiner said.

Jefferson County Health Center CEO Bryan Hunger sees the vaccine providing protection for hospital and clinic staff on the front line of the battle against the virus.

'We are very excited to offer the vaccine for our staff who are caring for patients diagnosed with COVID,” Hunger said. 'This will be an additional layer of protection for them.”

Once it is available for the public, the health center will be a vaccine location. The timeline is not set, but the vaccine is anticipated to be available for the community in late spring or summer. At this point, there is not a vaccine waitlist for the public.