Too soon to celebrate vaccinations, Providence Little Company Intensive Care Physician Hakim warns
Providence Little Company of Mary Intensive Care Physician Alix Hakim and State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi during a Zoom conference Thursday about COVID-19.
“I have mixed emotions,” Providence Little Company of Mary Intensive Care Physician Alex Hakim said about the vaccinations against COVID-19 his medical staff began receiving on Thursday. Hakim discussed the vaccine Thursday evening during a ZOOM conference hosted by South Bay Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi.
“To have an impact, the vaccine has to reach the general population. That’s phase four, after the front line medical workers and essential workers receive the vaccination. That won’t be until spring or early summer.”
“The vaccine won’t help what we will be up against in the next few weeks,” he said.
“We’re already in ‘the fog of war.’ We want to focus on care, but we’re being crushed by waves of patients.”
Hakim said the onslaught began with Thanksgiving and will get worse with the coming holidays.
“People ask how many ICU beds we have. Normally, we have 28. We’ve expanded it to 40. We can expand the number again. And we have plenty of ventilators. But how many beds is the wrong question.
“The right question is how many nurses and respiratory therapists do we have? You can’t staff a bed without a nurse. You can’t staff a ventilator without a respiratory therapist.
“We’re skating on the edge.”
“We were spared what New York went through during the first wave. We’re getting a taste of it now.” ER