Chukwuemeka Ogobuiro, registered nurse for UT Health East Texas, receives a booster dose of his COVID vaccine Wednesday at the UT Health North Campus in Tyler where the first dose of the vaccine was administered in East Texas.

Approximately one year ago, UT Health East Texas responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by pulling together a mass-vaccination effort to slow the spread of the virus. To date, the hospital has administered almost 60,000 vaccinations to protect against COVID-19. On Wednesday, a plaque was dedicated to those efforts that continue today.

The first COVID-19 vaccine to be administered in East Texas was given at the UT Health North Campus in Tyler at a vaccine clinic on Dec. 15, 2020, and later became one of the state’s vaccine hub locations. Although the state ceased having mass-vaccination locations when vaccines became more widely available, the site continues to offer COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters and pediatric doses.

As a result of the hospital being the first to obtain the vaccine in East Texas, some healthcare workers stepped up to receive the vaccine first for a layer of protection while they helped others. President of UT Tyler Dr. Kirk Calhoun said along with the elderly, getting their healthcare workforce fully immunized as rapidly as possible was a priority.

“I believe COVID-19, in my entire medical career, was the greatest public health challenge that we’ve experienced. It is historical and has scoped what has occurred around the world and what has occurred in the United States,” said Calhoun.

According to Calhoun, UT Health East Texas public health labs were one of the first to offer COVID-19 testing before the vaccine arrived at the hospital. During that time, facilities were inundated with people who needed tests and those who needed a COVID vaccine.

“With a great staff and great team, we were able to get through that, and at least get through the early parts of this pandemic,” Calhoun said.

Because the hospital’s academic medical center was involved and educated on research mRNA vaccines, the hospital was a prime candidate to receive the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Another big standout for the hospital was preparedness, Calhoun said, as he took initiative before the vaccine was available, to install special freezers to store vaccines when they arrived.

“For those of us who are involved in medical science, we’ve been talking about this a long time, so we had a sense of what we would need if a commercial vaccine became available,” Calhoun said.

In attendance at Wednesday’s plaque reveal was the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in East Texas, Gary Viljoen, director for rehab services for UT Health North Campus and frontline ICU physical therapist.

“I felt very grateful and honored,” Viljoen said.

At first, Viljoen thought he would be anxious, but he was reassured by the fact others before him had undergone clinical trials for the vaccine.

“I had no concerns about taking the first vaccine. I was glad that I knew within three weeks, I would have fairly good immunity against COVID-19,” he said.

Being the first person to get the vaccine did not come as a surprise to Viljoen as he was asked to do so by UT Health North Campus Tyler CEO Cody Boyd. Viljoen was prepared and said he did not feel any sense of bravery in being one of the first to step up and accept.

“Tens of thousands before me had participated in clinical trials. I think those are the great people,” he said.

The second person to get the COVID vaccine in East Texas was Johnnita Young, of Longview, a pharmacy technician in the in-patient pharmacy. She was also among the first to see the vaccines arrive to East Texas and unpackaged one of the first boxes.

It was December of last year when Young learned the vaccine was finally going to arrive in the area. She described the moment as exciting.

“We needed something to calm this COVID down and it felt exciting. Everyone in the department was excited and anxious about the arrival of the vaccine coming in. We were on top of it,” she said.

Young explained there was a time limit from the moment the vaccine was removed from its box to then pull what was needed, count those out and put the rest in the freezer.

“Three minutes. No more than three minutes and we had a timer and we nailed it. It was exciting,” Young said.

Only a couple of hours after having unpackaged the first vials, Young was receiving her first dose of the COVID vaccine.

“They called me ‘Superstar,’” she said. “Everybody told me when they saw me on television. ‘I saw you getting the shot,’ Yeah, it was exciting. It felt good getting the shot.”

Calhoun thanked UT Health East Texas’ healthcare workers for their hard work.

“At a time when our hospitals were just full and struggling, they put in the extra time to staff that vaccine clinic and start providing life-saving vaccines to East Texas,” Calhoun said.

To date, over 800,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19. The dedicated plaque is located in the main lobby of the UT Health North Campus in Tyler.