BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — In Cochise County, home to about 126,000, the vaccine is the light at the end of the tunnel.
Related: Inside a Bisbee Hospital: Rural Arizona coping with a surge
Nurse Glenda Trevino is the employee health nurse and educator at Copper Queen Community Hospital. She is tasked with administering the vaccine to its 350 employees as well as others around the county.
“I'm just excited that I'm going to take a viable host away from COVID and stop the spread," said Trevino.
Trevino was the fourth person in Cochise County to get the Moderna vaccine. She explained she had the side effects expected from any other vaccine.
“My arm was sore. I had a little red nub [and] it was tender. I did have a headache here and there and just felt tired. I had some body aches, but any vaccine gives you that immune response and that's what you want. It means it's working," she said.
For Trevino, the vaccine brings happiness but also regret.
“We've had actually a staff member die from COVID this year, from a COVID infection. We have several staff members-- I get a little teared up--that have lost family members to COVID [and] have lost friends," said Trevino.
In fact, while working around the clock to treat rural Arizona---hospital workers say at least a handful of copper queen employees have fallen ill to the virus--- but they do not think those infected contracted the virus inside the hospital.
Nonetheless, as Trevino continues to vaccinate Cochise County, she asks the community to be patient.
“We have to go through the tier system that the CDC has laid out. So it's not as quickly as people want because it's due to what we have available at the time so they have to divide it out,” she said.
