The Madison Fire Department will stand alongside other healthcare workers as one of the first groups to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to officials.
Che Stedman, the assistant chief of medical affairs, said its department of nearly 400 members qualifies as an EMT or paramedic, putting the group in Phase 1A of vaccine distribution.
Oftentimes, first responders are at the very front of the frontline. How they differ from hospital workers, Stedman suggested, is the uncertainty of knowing who is or isn’t COVID-positive.
“When we go on 911 calls for people that are very sick, we wear all the precautions necessary, but we’re not really sure of their status,” he said. Firefighter-paramedics like Marcus Bobholz said he often goes into people’s homes and has to share close quarters with them inside an ambulance.