After receiving a shipment of the FDA-authorized Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines on Monday, December 14, Conway Medical Center quickly began to distribute vaccines to healthcare workers. 

Dr. Stephen T. Brady soon became the first individual to receive the vaccine in South Carolina. 

On his decision to receive the vaccine, Dr. Brady said, “The hope is that this will come in and it will get down to being like the regular flu and we can get out together. We can travel together. We can see the world. We can be part of the universe again. And realize that we have overcome this once again.”

While Conway Medical Center is not requiring their staff to receive the vaccine, many healthcare workers have already expressed their eagerness to get vaccinated. 

Angela Williford, Conway Medical Center’s Vice President of Quality, is hopeful that the vaccine will help everyone get back to some sense of normalcy. In a statement on the rollout of the vaccine, Williford said, “We all see this as a lifeline for all of us to getting our lives back. I don’t know whether it is the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end, but it’s extremely exciting.”

As coronavirus cases have continued to rise throughout the state, the arrival of the vaccine is causing many to become cautiously optimistic about the future.