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Firetrucks and paramedic paraphernalia had been cleared out and vials and needles rolled in Monday as a downtown Los Angeles fireplace station reworked right into a vaccination web site for town’s firefighters to obtain their first doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The Los Angeles Fire Department workers — town’s first to obtain the vaccine — joined first responders throughout Southern California in getting the vaccine.
“These are the folks who are always there for us,” Mayor Eric Garcetti mentioned. “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 L.A. Fire Department final week, company spokesman Peter Sanders mentioned. About 150 paramedics had been educated Monday morning on the right way to administer the vaccines, incomes pictures within the arm within the course of. In the afternoon, they started giving the vaccine to their colleagues as Garcetti, Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas and different officers watched.
“We do see the vaccine as a light at the end of a very long tunnel,” Terrazas mentioned. He famous that the Fire Department has seen 650 constructive circumstances amongst its ranks because the starting of the pandemic. Roughly a dozen have been hospitalized and one firefighter-paramedic, Jose Perez, died of COVID-19 problems in July. Even now, 157 stay in quarantine or isolation, Sanders mentioned.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti holds a vial of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at LAFD Station 4 on Monday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
The Moderna vaccine has been proven to be 94.5% efficient at stopping circumstances of COVID-19. News of its arrival for first responders got here as L.A. County confirmed an more and more dire image of the pandemic: 7,181 coronavirus-positive sufferers hospitalized, with 1,449 in intensive care, in line with the newest state knowledge. Many hospitals are already overrun with sufferers, and the numbers are anticipated to worsen when infections from Christmas gatherings start to point out.
“It may not feel like it on a rainy day like this, but this is a ray of sunshine,” Garcetti mentioned, as rain poured outdoors the hearth station storage.
Behind the mayor, the vaccination course of hummed alongside. One particular person registered the firefighters’ names whereas one other drew the vaccine from a vial and one other caught it into the firefighter’s arm. In the approaching weeks, firefighters will obtain electronic mail and textual content updates to remind them to get the second dose.
The storage has already been functioning as a once-a-week COVID-19 testing web site for metropolis workers, Sanders mentioned. Now it would double as a vaccine web site for the Fire Department’s roughly 3,400 first responders, together with two different stations in Watts and North Hollywood.
The division expects to vaccinate each worker who needs to obtain it within the subsequent two weeks. In a current casual survey, almost 90% of respondents mentioned they needed the vaccine, Sanders mentioned.
Firefighter-paramedic Mark Flynn mentioned he was “50-50” a number of weeks in the past about whether or not he would get the vaccine, however after researching it and chatting with medical physician kin who had acquired the vaccination, he determined to line up.
“The benefits outweigh the risks for me,” Flynn mentioned. “I think the biggest thing is educate yourself. Do some personal research on it.”
After receiving the vaccination, he mentioned he was “happy about it.” Now he plans to share his expertise with household and buddies.
“I’m kind of the guinea pig, so to speak, for them,” he mentioned. “Maybe I can encourage them to get it as well.”
Anthony Kong, a Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter paramedic, prepares a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination to be given to LAFD personnel at Station 4 on Monday.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Terrazas mentioned he plans to obtain his first shot Wednesday, alongside the presidents of the firefighter and chief unions. They will videotape their expertise and ship it to all workers to encourage them to get the vaccination as effectively, he mentioned.
“I didn’t want to cut in front of anybody. It’s a long-standing tradition in our Fire Department — like for meals, the officers go last,” Terrazas mentioned. “But I also want to encourage people, and the best way to encourage them is for me to get the shot.”
Similar scenes have unfolded at fireplace stations throughout Southern California in current days. The Los Angeles County Fire Department started rolling out vaccines on Christmas Eve, mentioned Capt. Ron Haralson. As of Sunday, 1,793 of the division’s roughly 4,000 members had been given the Moderna vaccine, he mentioned. The division expects to supply it to everybody who needs it inside the subsequent few days, Haralson mentioned.
Orange County Fire Authority workers started receiving the Moderna vaccine over the weekend, as did emergency medical technicians, firefighters and paramedics in Corona.
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