Currently available COVID-19 vaccines worked well in clinical trials, and now we're seeing evidence they're protecting people in the real world - even after one dose. The Los Angeles County Fire Department has seen a dramatic decrease in its COVID-19 positivity rate since firefighters started getting vaccinated during the last week of December.
Approximately 75% of the county’s firefighters, over 3000 people, have received their first dose of the vaccine. In December their COVID-19 positivity rate was 18%. It has dropped to 5.6%.
This trend is in stark contrast to what is being seen in L.A. County, now the U.S. hub of the pandemic, and California, which became the first state to surpass 3 million COVID-19 cases.
Like other frontline workers, firefighters put themselves at risk every day.