By Julia Caulfield

The Telluride Regional Medical Center’s Depot Respiratory Clinic is buzzing. The first Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are being administered to medical professionals across the county.

Dr. Diana Koelliker, Director of Emergeny and Trauma Services at the Telluride Medical Center, Dr. Paul Koelliker, and ER Nurse Aaron Clark are the first to go in Telluride.

If you ask them, the act of getting the vaccine, is not a huge deal.

“Physically it’s just like any other vaccine. It’s a small needle, it hurts a tiny bit, but it’s not a big deal at all,” says Dr. Paul Koelliker.

But obviously vaccine day is more than just getting a shot.

“We have been anxiously waiting for today,” says Dr. Christine Mahoney, Director of Primary Care at the Telluride Regional Medical Center, “It is amazing. It’s hard to put into words. It’s a step towards the end of this. I feel like it’s a day of solidarity with all the healthcare works across the world who have been living through this.”

That sense of comradery and connection with scientists and doctors is apparent throughout the afternoon. The COVID vaccine has been developed faster than any vaccine in history, and Dr. Diana Koelliker says it’s because of those scientists and doctors who sprang into action.

“It’s kind of amazing that we have gotten to this point so quickly. I am shocked,” she says, “and really that is because worldwide our medical community, our scientist, came together and developed all of these vaccines.”

And beyond COVID she says it’s an amazing day for science.

“Not only is this going to revolutionize how we can end this pandemic,” she notes, “but I think it’s actually going to have huge applications for all other kinds of things. So, this is historic for so many reasons. For medicine it’s a turning point.”

San Miguel County – between the Public Health Department and the Telluride Medical Center – received a total number of 200 vaccines in the first rollout. On Wednesday, 50 vaccines were administered in Telluride, with another 30 administered at the Uncompahgre Medical Center in Norwood.

By Saturday evening all 200 vaccines in the county should be administered. Officials expect more doses will arrive in the coming weeks.

But despite the monumental day, Dr. Koelliker recognizes this is actually just the beginning.

She says “we’ve got a million other people we have to have the same thing happen to. Or in our county, we have another 8,000 people to give this to. So we got to move on and keep our eye on the prize, which is everyone getting the vaccine and helping to get to that herd immunity spot where so this doesn’t have to alter every single day of our life.”

For the time being, COVID will continue to affect our everyday, but one by one residents across San Miguel County and the world are getting stuck with a needle, containing the vaccine which will slowly pull us out of the coronavirus pandemic.