'Today marks a day of hope’ as COVID vaccinations begin with St. Joseph nurse, doctor

A registered nurse and doctor who have treated COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit at St. Joseph were the first and second health care workers at the hospital to get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Friday, Dec. 18 — a day celebrated as a new beginning.

Workers at the Bellingham hospital clapped after Agnes Kuc, a nurse in the hospital’s COVID unit, received the first shot. The nurse said she was happy she was selected to be the first and felt hopeful that “we’re getting closer right now to the end of the pandemic.”

PeaceHealth, which owns the hospital, received 975 doses of the vaccine this week — among the first in Washington state to do so.