(KNSI) – CentraCare Officials are trying to dispel rumors and educate the public about the COVID-19 vaccines and their hospital capacity. CentraCare President & CEO Dr. Ken Holmen explained the purpose of a vaccine.
“The purpose of vaccination is not to prevent you from getting the Coronavirus. It is a common misperception in the public. The purpose of vaccination is to prevent illness, hospitalization, and death.”
He says the vaccine is 90% effective at doing its job. Holmen says CentraCare is delaying medical care because they’re at capacity with 415 of the hospital’s 418 beds full, many with COVID patients.
St. Cloud Hospital officials are also combatting misinformation that its vaccine mandate is behind the hospital reaching its capacity. Rumors on social media claim the hospital has plenty of beds but insufficient staff due to the medical systems vaccine mandate. Holmen says most of the companies’ 12,500 workers followed the mandate.
“We had 168 employees, 29 of them nurses, go on a leave of absence because of our vaccination requirements. So, the numbers are different than the public memes out there.”
CentraCare Nurse Gina Anderson Malum says it’s frustrating because the same people who are refusing to get vaccinated trust them to help them get better.
“With COVID people trust us when they’re sick. They come to us. So, why is it when they come to us and they trust us, but they don’t trust us enough to have this vaccine?”
She says the hospitals are filled with unvaccinated COVID patients.
CentraCare says the vaccines are safe, and they’ve administered more than 250,000 doses without any patients suffering any major complications.
Listen to Dr. Holmen and Nurse Gina’s conversation with KNSI Dan Ochsner by clicking here.
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