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Health Care Workers Line Up As Hospitals Receive COVID-19 Vaccines

BOSTON (CBS) – More hospitals across Massachusetts received their first doses of the coronavirus vaccine Wednesday.

"It was a great experience, close to painless," said.

Medical professionals across Boston stood in line to receive the vaccine. Dr. Catalina Gonzalez Marques, an emergency room doctor and Brigham & Women's Hospital, got the vaccine as soon as she got off a long overnight shift."I think it was an honor to be completely honest with you. There's a great team of people here and really incredible intelligent doctors that work here and so I felt honored to be able to represent them."

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Dr. Catalina Gonzalez Marques received the COVID-19 vaccine after a long overnight shift in the emergency room at Brigham & Women's Hospital. (WBZ-TV)

Frontline workers are the first to receive the vaccine, perhaps giving them some peace of mind as they battle the coronavirus daily.

"It hasn't been easy. It's tough. There's been heartbreak because you see people separated at the end of life and they can't be with their families, or you see communities that are disproportionately suffering," Gonzalez Marques said

Judith Rowell is a medical assistant at Brigham's urgent care facility. She wanted to get the shot in memory of her mother who died from COVID-19 in April. "I hadn't seen her for weeks because they weren't allowing anyone to be in a nursing home. So I wanted to do this today for her."

The workers who received the vaccine said it's an important step in the fight against coronavirus, but it is just that – a step.

"There's still a very long road ahead, and I'm an ER doctor and so it's cautious optimism with everything, but it's exciting and it's hopeful," Gonzalez Marques said.

Massachusetts is slated to get about 60,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine during the first phase of distribution.

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