Hadassah vaccinates most staff, redirects patients as it combats COVID-19

Following some setbacks, most of Hadassah Hospital's medical teams have received the coronavirus vaccine as of Monday, a press release from the hospital read, as it struggles to combat the virus and treat the rising number of patients under its care.

Out of the hospital's 6,000 total employees, 4,800 have received the first dose of the vaccine, with 1,000 staff members already having received the second dose.

Some 50 Hadassah staffers have also volunteered to act as test subjects for the Israeli vaccine trials, the press release noted.

"I congratulate the decision of most of [the hospital's] employees to get vaccinated out of a sense of personal and public responsibility, and I salute the efficiency of Hadassah's vaccination teams and their dedicated and professional work," head of Hadassah Prof. Zeev Rotstein said.

Rotstein had urged hospital employees to get vaccinated over the past week. The hospital issued a statement last week, warning its employees that only those "who receive the vaccination, have recovered from the disease or are participating in the Israeli vaccine trials, and are essential workers, would be able to come to work."

Hadassah Ein Kerem is currently the hospital treating the most coronavirus patients in Jerusalem, according to Ynet. With 133 patients currently admitted to its wards and with the number of new patients arriving on the rise, the hospital faces a challenging situation.

Earlier on Monday, Hadassah Ein Kerem was forced to redirect ambulances carrying non-coronavirus patients to its University Medical Center on Mount Scopus in an attempt to ease the overload.

Last week, Rotstein addressed the overload faced by the hospital, noting that it was running low on vaccine, while expressing concern for the safety of his staff, who might not be able to receive the vaccine.

Rotstein's concern was due to a decision by the Health Ministry to halt the process of vaccinating the public in hospitals and move it to the country's health funds, because more people were making appointments to be vaccinated than originally expected. As such, the ministry wouldn't commit to providing additional doses of the vaccine for vaccinating hospital staff members.

However, other hospitals did not find themselves in a similar situation, and some even blamed Hadassah for not following protocol properly, which led them to the tough situation of many staff members not being vaccinated so late into the vaccination campaign.

In any case, medical teams at Hadassah, their family members and the hospital's patients can relax, now that most staffers have received the vaccine and the rest will be receiving it in the next few days.