WHEELING — Along with protection from a virus that has killed hundreds and sickened thousands in West Virginia, health care workers throughout the Ohio Valley also gained hope and relief as they were among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

Vaccinations began early Tuesday morning at both Wheeling Hospital and Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale. At Wheeling Hospital, nurse’s aide Debra Ronevich and physician’s assistant Daniel Burns were the first two to be inoculated. At Reynolds, ER nurse manager Brittany DeCrease was the first to receive the vaccine.

West Virginia healthcare workers are receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech version of the vaccine, which was authorized for emergency use late Friday by the Food and Drug Administration and arrived at local hospitals Monday.

Ronevich said that, while she was a little nervous while getting the shot, she felt relieved at the same time. She was glad for the opportunity and felt “blessed” to be one of the first to receive the vaccine at the hospital. Ronevich was off work Tuesday and made a special trip to the hospital to receive the vaccine.

“It’s very important,” said Ronevich, who mentioned she “felt good” following the shot and wasn’t experiencing any symptoms of the illness. “It’s very sad when people die and they die alone and that’s a very sad situation.”

Burns said he signed up to receive the vaccination to protect himself from a disease that has run rampant throughout the state.

According to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources website, the state had reached 65,708 total cases and 1,012 total deaths as of Tuesday morning.

“We see a lot of it here, so it actually feels a little bit like a relief to get the vaccine,” Burns explained. “It was very exciting. … I wasn’t nervous.”

“I think it’s very important,” he added. “I think it’s one of the first steps to hopefully trying to get a little bit back to normal.”

Along with normalcy, Reynolds CEO Dr. David Hess said hospital employees needed a figurative shot in the arm along with the literal one. Since the pandemic began, hospital workers have traveled a long, hard road. One surge would come and abate, and Hess said it felt like another one would come right on its heels.

“We needed this for morale,” Hess said. “We needed this like everyone else in the community does, we needed hope. Today marks the first glimmer of hope we’ve had in the battle against COVID in a long time.

“Morale is up,” he added, “because they finally see science is going to win.”

Vaccinations are voluntary at both hospitals, but officials at both said there has been a significant response from employees wanting to be vaccinated. Tuesday’s shots were the first part of the vaccination process for those employees. They’ll need to return in about 21 days for the second shot. Full immunity from both shots is not expected to occur until two weeks following the second dose.

Those who have received the vaccines will be monitored to see if there are any side effects, but Hess doesn’t foresee those happening. They also can report any side effects through a website.

More vaccines should arrive in hospitals in the coming weeks. The FDA’s preliminary analysis of the Moderna version of the vaccine confirmed its safety and effectiveness. An outside panel of experts is expected to recommend Moderna’s version and the FDA should greenlight it shortly thereafter.

The first vaccines will go to hospital staff and long-term care staff and residents. Next comes critical infrastructure workers, first responders and public healthcare workers. Then comes other healthcare workers, then K-12 and higher learning educators and staff. Then the vaccine will be distributed to the public.

Wheeling Hospital Assistant Vice-President Tony Martinelli said that Tuesday’s events offered a better look at a light at the end of the tunnel.

“While it’s certainly not the end of this pandemic,” he said, “it may signal the beginning of the end.”

That light may be less of a pinpoint, Hess said, but it’s not yet a floodlight. There remains plenty of tunnel to navigate, but Tuesday was a turning point in the fight against the virus.

“It’s still a small light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “But at this point, with what everybody in this building and what everyone in healthcare has been through in the last eight to nine months, we’ll take anything. We’re still excited about it.

“We’ve got to make sure that the people who are taking care of the sickest of the sick stay well themselves,” he added, “and then we’ll roll it out to the rest of the population.”