-So, our tracking number --
We received the tracking number yesterday from the city,
and I've been tracking all night long to see where it is.
6:00 a.m. this morning, it was in the Philly transit.
We are expecting it to arrive any time.
[Indistinct conversations]
Excuse me.
Carlos. -Yeah?
-Come on. Bring it up.
We received a box about 10 minutes ago.
And -- With the UPS.
And it arrived, and it got signed for.
And we are going to take it
to our minus-80 freezer to store.
Okay. -Whoa.
-Are you ready? Okay.
We got to do this part, too, so it...
[Indistinct conversation]
-No. It's pretty tight.
Easy, easy.
Inside.
-How does it feel? It's finally here.
-This is wonderful!
[Laughter]
Whew. [Sniffles]
[Voice breaking] Thank you.
[Sighs]
[Applause]
♪♪
-Six weeks of planning is culminating today,
but as I've often described this to people,
today is really the commencement.
It may be a graduation from the planning,
but this is the beginning.
This is the start of where we are.
And, to me, the first people vaccinated are important,
but the 18,000th person vaccinated is also important.
-All right.
So, here's the -- here's the vials.
-So, we're going to take 25 up to start our patients
this morning.
Building 212.
-We are going to head over to the staging area
to store this in the refrigerator.
You ready, Greg? -I think so.
-All right. Let's go!
-Godspeed. -Godspeed.
It's been a long year,
and this is the light at the end of the tunnel.
This is going to give us the hope
that we are going to change the course of this virus.
-Okay. -25 vials.
They're going into the fridge. -Okay.
-11:15. -Okay.
-Temperature control. -Okay.
-Correct.
-Whew. -Let's do this.
[Laughter]
-It gets to your heart because it's --
It's the patients, because I'm sure you've seen the pictures,
but when you're really up there, you go up on the floors
and you see what happens to you when you're fully infected
and you see my colleagues that are working,
taking care of those patients, it all floods back in.
It's all just a sense of relief
that, oh, my gosh, we've got some tools.
We've got something to help them.
So it's -- it's just wonderful.
That's how -- It just --
Everything sort of rushed in, and I got emotional with it.
[Indistinct conversation]
-Please tell me I'm not the first one.
-You are. -Oh, my God!
-[Laughter] -Officially excited.
[Laughter]
-I'm nervous as -- as much as the next person would be,
but I'm excited at the same time.
-Who's next to be consented?
-Okay. And then your name is Ingrid?
-Correct. -Okay.
[Indistinct conversations]
-Use the hand sanitizer on the way in.
-Yeah. I'm so nervous.
Hi. Hey.
-...current session.
-You're Dwight, right? -Yeah. Yeah.
-I'm sorry. Dwight, so, I'm part of the first group,
and Dr. Reed just -- He was like -- that he --
I'm on the third now, but I'm not sure where I'm going.
-You stay right put. -Right here? Okay.
-You're gonna get your shot in a few moments.
-Okay. -That's all.
-No. Oh, that's fine. I just want to make sure
I'm in the right place. -You're in the right place.
-Okay. [Laughs]
-Countdown. Ready? Three, two, one, go.
-[Laughs]
-All right. Round of applause.
[Applause]
-Nobody was prepared for this, you know?
Nobody's prepared for a pandemic in this magnitude.
Yeah, I mean, I think the hardest part was seeing
a lot of my coworkers fall ill.
-Did it, girl. You did it.
-It's just been so hard this year, you know?
I came back from maternity leave in March
and was kind of sent right over to working with COVID patients,
and it was terrifying.
We didn't know -- Nobody knew anything at that point --
how it was spreading,
what kind of mask you should be wearing.
You know, everybody was just terrified.
As we found out more information about the disease --
and, thankfully, thank God we have,
you know, the vaccination now -- it's just, you know,
taking steps to getting back to a little bit of normalcy,
which is good.
-Hi. -I'm going with the left.
-Okay. -Okay.
-It's been overwhelming.
And I'm not only referring to our department.
Just in general --
for the hospital, for all the staff.
[Laughter]
♪♪
[Laughs]
As soon as I leave out of here, I'm calling my mom.
[Laughs]
♪♪