The Medical University of South Carolina began vaccinating its health care workers against COVID-19 on Tuesday with the newly authorized Pfizer vaccine.

Shemika Champion, a pediatric nurse at MUSC Children’s Health, received the first shot shortly after 12:45 p.m., becoming the first person in the Lowcountry to get the vaccine, WCSC Live 5 reported. She became MUSC’s first employee inoculated against the coronavirus, The Post and Courier reported, and onlookers applauded.

“I’m really excited,” Champion told reporters, according to Live 5. “MUSC is like the most cutting-edge, innovative hospital in South Carolina and happy to be a part of it.”

The shots came hours later than planned. MUSC had hoped to start at 7 a.m., but shipping delays reported late Monday forced it to postpone, Live 5 reported.

A box no bigger than a coffee maker

The vaccine arrived by UPS on Tuesday morning in a box no bigger than a coffee maker, holding 4,875 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, according to MUSC. The vaccine had received emergency-use authorization from the federal government four days earlier.

Jason Mills, MUSC’s pharmacy supply chain manager, signed for the package as a representative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked on, MUSC said. He and Heather Easterling, system administrator of pharmacy services, had three minutes to get the doses out of the packaging and into an ultra-low freezer. The vaccine must be kept at minus 92 degrees Fahrenheit to stay viable for an extended time, according to MUSC.

From there, doses were to be divided among MUSC’s four locations in the Charleston area and four regional sites and sent out by courier, the university said.

More than 600 employees were scheduled to be vaccinated on the first day, according to MUSC. Live 5 reported that the hospital expected to vaccinate about 700 employees by about 8 p.m.

Who goes first

Following CDC guidelines, MUSC said front-line health care workers and long-term care residents at MUSC Health facilities would be the first to receive the vaccine, Live 5 reported. The first wave covers anyone who touches patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19, including nurses, nurse’s aides, physicians, physician’s assistants and therapists. The second wave covers anyone who works within six feet of those patients, followed by everyone else who supports MUSC Health.

The vaccine is not mandatory for employees, MUSC said. Shots are given at four mobile vaccination stations in 10-minute slots. MUSC epidemiologist Dr. Robert Ball said vaccinations are staggered so that if side effects force a doctor or nurse to take a day off, the hospital will not be left short-handed, according to Live 5.

The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses, and people vaccinated Tuesday will get their second shot in three weeks. MUSC hopes everyone at MUSC Health who wants the vaccine will have it by the end of December, Live 5 reported.

Dr. Danielle Scheurer, chief quality officer for MUSC Health, called it “one of the most effective vaccines ever produced in the history of vaccines,” according to the station. She expects the first delivery of nearly 5,000 doses to be used up by early next week, MUSC said.

“It’s a whole new era,” Scheurer said in MUSC’s account of the day. “We haven’t had many hopeful messages since January.”

The statewide rollout

MUSC is part of a wave of hospitals giving South Carolina’s first doses this week. Dr. Stephen T. Brady of Conway Medical Center became the first person in the state to receive the vaccine on Monday, The Post and Courier reported. Three hospitals received vaccine Monday and about a dozen more on Tuesday, according to the newspaper. Roper Hospital in Charleston and Lexington Medical Center also gave their first doses Tuesday, the newspaper reported. The rest of the state’s first 43,000 doses were due Wednesday, state officials said.

State health officials are giving priority to hospital workers and nursing home residents with the first 200,000 doses they expect by the end of the year, the newspaper reported. It could be next spring before the vaccine is available to all of South Carolina’s 5 million residents.

The doses arrive during the state’s worst surge of COVID-19 cases yet. At least 239,000 South Carolinians have contracted the disease this year and 4,400 have died, The Post and Courier reported.

MUSC infectious disease expert Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, one of the employees scheduled for a shot on the first day, borrowed a line from Dr. Anthony Fauci. “‘The cavalry is coming,’” she said, according to MUSC. “This is very exciting.”