Tampa Bay ’s First Responders Get Early Vaccine Access. Will They Take It?

Kathryn Varn Tampa Bay Times (MCT) Florida’s first COVID-19 vaccine doses landed in Tampa Bay this week, poised for distribution to the people public health officials determined need it first. Millions of healthcare workers and the residents of long-term care facilities will get vaccinated first. Next up will be essential workers, including firefighters, paramedics and police officers. But when it’s their turn, will Tampa Bay’s first-responders get the shot? A significant number of firefighters and officers said they weren’t interested or were undecided, according to surveys of local fire and police departments conducted in recent weeks. In Pinellas County, 549 paramedics and emergency medical technicians who work for the county’s fire departments and ambulance company — about 40 percent of the 1,380 respondents — said they don’t want to get vaccinated. Another 28 percent, or 385 people, said they’re undecided. That means the number who do want the vaccine — 32 percent, or 446 people — were in the minority. Law enforcement surveys show similar results. At the St. Petersburg Police Department, about a third of the 472 respondents said yes. But 35 percent said no and 31 percent were undecided — about two-thirds of respondents. The findings raise questions about the potential risks to the public, and to first-responders themselves, if so many decline to become inoculated. The risks are particularly high fo...
Source: JEMS: Journal of Emergency Medical Services News - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Coronavirus News News Feed Florida Medicine Source Type: news