COVID Vaccinations Begin For NYC's EMS Workers as 12th FDNY Member Dies From Virus

One of the first responder agencies hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus began the vaccination process after approximately 5,700 members of the FDNY had been infected with the virus since it started ravaging New York City in March.

The vaccinations, using the doses from Moderna, kicked off at three locations Wednesday: the training headquarters of EMS at Fort Totten, the FDNY Fire Training Academy on Randall’s Island in Queens, and Fire Department HQ in Brooklyn. For the next several days only EMTs and paramedics will be vaccinated in accordance with state health procedures for the distribution of the vaccine.

Here’s how the process works: a member of the Department comes to one of the locations, checks in and gets a temperature screen, then the member fills out the requisite paperwork and ultimately gets the vaccine from one of the nurses. After the shot, the Department gives them an appointment for the second shot which is at least 28 days from the vaccination date at a second station. The process concludes with vaccinated person sitting for 15 minutes, still socially distanced, to make sure they don’t have any allergic reaction or any other reaction to the vaccine. 

The FDNY anticipates vaccinating 450 people per day at each location, seven days a week excluding holidays. The FDNY has 4,400 EMS and approximately 11,000 firefighters, 37 percent of whom have tested positive or are suspected of having the virus. The department EMS have responded to more than 1 million emergency medical calls throughout New York City during the pandemic, and recorded 6,527 medical emergencies in the city on March 30 alone, its single busiest day. Firefighters will start getting the vaccine next week.

The news comes on what the FDNY calls a ‘bittersweet’ day following the death of a 27-year veteran of EMS, EMT Evelyn Ford, due to the virus. Ford made headlines a decade ago after she answered a 911 call and helped coach a Staten Island mother through the home birth of a child who had arrived sooner than expected.

“On the day we begin to vaccinate our EMS members from this deadly virus, it has once again taken one of our own. EMT Evelyn Ford is the twelfth member of the Department to die due to COVID-19,” said Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro. Those 12 include five members of EMS and seven civilians.