Fire trucks and paramedic paraphernalia were removed and vials and needles rolled up on Monday, when a fire department in downtown Los Angeles was turned into a vaccination site for city firefighters to receive their first doses of the vaccine Moderna COVID- 19.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials – the first in the city to receive the vaccine – joined rescuers across southern California to obtain the vaccine.
“These are the people who are always there for us,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Not only during COVID, but when disaster strikes – be it a fire or a medical emergency – we know that these men and women are people who are literally angels in our city of angels.”
Shipments of the Modern vaccine arrived at the LA Fire Department last week, said agency spokesman Peter Sanders. About 150 paramedics were trained on Monday morning on how to administer the vaccines, being shot in the arm in the process. In the afternoon, they started giving their colleagues the vaccine while Garcetti, fire chief Ralph Terrazas and other officers watched.
“We see the vaccine as a light at the end of a very long tunnel,” said Terrazas. He noted that the Fire Department has seen 650 positive cases among its ranks since the pandemic began. Approximately a dozen were hospitalized and a paramedic firefighter, Jose Perez, died of complications COVID-19 in July. Even now, 157 remain in quarantine or isolation, Sanders said.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti holds a Modern COVID-19 vaccination bottle at LAFD Station 4 on Monday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
The Modern vaccine proved to be 94.5% effective in preventing cases of COVID-19. The news of his arrival to the first respondents came when LA County showed an increasingly dire picture of the pandemic: 7,181 hospitalized coronavirus-positive patients, with 1,449 in intensive care, according to the latest state data. Many hospitals are already full of patients, and the numbers are likely to get worse when Christmas party infections start to appear.
“It may not look like it is on a rainy day like this, but this is a ray of sunshine,” said Garcetti, as the rain fell outside the fire station’s garage.
Behind the mayor, the vaccination process hummed. One person registered the names of the firefighters, while another took the vaccine from a vial and another put it in the firefighter’s arm. In the coming weeks, firefighters will receive email and text updates to remind them to receive the second dose.
The garage already functions as a COVID-19 test site once a week for city officials, said Sanders. It will now serve as a vaccination site for the approximately 3,400 first Fire Department respondents, along with two other stations in Watts and North Hollywood.
The department hopes to vaccinate all employees who want to receive it in the next two weeks. In a recent informal survey, almost 90% of respondents said they wanted the vaccine, said Sanders.
Paramedic firefighter Mark Flynn said he was “50-50” a few weeks ago about whether to get the vaccine, but after researching and talking to medical relatives who received the vaccine, he decided to line up.
“The benefits outweigh the risks for me,” said Flynn. “I think the most important thing is to educate yourself. Do some personal research on this. “
After receiving the vaccination, he said he was “happy about it”. Now he plans to share his experience with family and friends.
“I’m kind of a guinea pig, so to speak, for them,” he said. “Maybe I can encourage them to understand, too.”
Anthony Kong, a paramedic firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department, is preparing a Modern COVID-19 vaccination to be given to LAFD personnel at Station 4 on Monday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Terrazas said he plans to receive his first shot on Wednesday, alongside fire chiefs and union leaders. They will film their experience and send it to all employees to encourage them to get vaccinated too, he said.
“I didn’t want to cut in front of anyone. It’s a long-standing tradition in our Fire Department – as for meals, the police go last, ”said Terrazas. “But I also want to encourage people, and the best way to encourage them is to take the photo myself.”
Similar scenes have occurred at fire stations across Southern California in the past few days. The Los Angeles County Fire Department began distributing vaccines on Christmas Eve, said Captain Ron Haralson. As of Sunday, 1,793 of the approximately 4,000 members of the department had received the Modern vaccine, he said. The department hopes to offer it to anyone who wants it in the next few days, said Haralson.
Orange County Fire Authority officials began receiving the Moderna vaccine over the weekend, as did emergency medical technicians, firefighters and paramedics in Corona.