Nurses react to impending rollout of COVID vaccine

MINOT, N.D. – First District Health Unit announced Monday that vaccines for healthcare workers in the region will arrive next week.

Tuesday, the North Dakota Nurse Association posed a question to members and healthcare workers on their Facebook page, asking whether or not they would take the vaccine.

The post garnered more than 40 comments in four hours with the nurses and health care workers nearly evenly split.

North Dakota Nurse Association President Tessa Johnson was one of the healthcare workers in support of the vaccine.

She said she is hopeful that it will protect nurses from the virus so they continue to be there for their patients.

“If we can get this vaccine with convenience to healthcare workers in large groups it’s a game-changer for us. We hope that that will create the barrier that we need to this virus and that we can keep our health care workers at work,” said Johnson.

Johnson said she sees it as stepping up to the plate to do something that protects both she and her patients.