Peconic Bay Medical Center Administers First COVID-19 Vaccines on the East End

Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead received 50 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine today, December 16, for its staff, which were administered to frontline healthcare workers. Emergency medicine physician Dr. Nicholas Palamidessi received the first vaccine on the East End. He encouraged others to “have faith in the science.”

Kristen Hanes, RN, administered the inoculation. She was “absolutely thrilled” to do this and “can’t wait to get the vaccine.”

The United States has been devastated by COVID-19, with more than 16 million reported cases and over 300,000 deaths to date. Reuters reports that the nation’s hospitals are flooding with COVID-19 patients, threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems and providers. There are over 108,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the highest since the first coronavirus case was detected in the country in January.