Los Angeles Firefighters and Paramedics Get First COVID-19 Vaccine Doses

Faith E. Pinho Los Angeles Times (MCT) Firetrucks and paramedic paraphernalia were cleared out and vials and needles rolled in Monday as a downtown Los Angeles fire station transformed into a vaccination site for the city’s firefighters to receive their first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The Los Angeles Fire Department employees — the city’s first to receive the vaccine — joined first responders across Southern California in getting the COVID-19 vaccine. “These are the folks who are always there for us,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “Not just during COVID, but when any disaster strikes — whether it’s a fire, whether it’s a medical emergency — we know that these men and women are the folks that are literally angels in our city of angels.” Shipments of the Moderna vaccine arrived for the LAFD last week, agency spokesman Peter Sanders said. About 150 LAFD paramedics were trained Monday morning on how to administer the vaccines, earning shots in the arm in the process. In the afternoon, they began giving the vaccine to their colleagues as Garcetti, LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas and other officials watched. “We do see the vaccine as a light at the end of a very long tunnel,” Terrazas said. He noted that the Fire Department has seen 650 positive cases among its ranks since the beginning of the pandemic. Roughly a doze...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Coronavirus News News Feed Source Type: news