A COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in New York State in just a couple of weeks. The first 170,000 doses are going to frontline healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents, according to the state's distribution plan. However, firefighters and EMTs are making a case for why they should also get top priority alongside healthcare workers.
“Along with doctors, nurses, and other people who are on the front lines in treating patients with COVID, our members are there," says Sam Fresina, President of the New York State Professional Firefighters Association.
EMTs and paramedics often see COVID patients before anyone at the hospital does. These emergency personnel are the ones who answer calls and arrive with the ambulance to transport patients. “They’re in our care from the call to when we hand them off to ER doctors," says Fresina.