By Allison Kaden
November 30, 2020
A coronavirus vaccine is expected to be available soon and first responders, including New York City’s EMTs, paramedics and FDNY fire inspectors, are likely to be among the first to receive the vaccine.
Local union 2507 Vice-President Michael Greco, who represents 4,000 FDNY members, said he was happy with the distribution plan.
A coronavirus vaccine is expected to be available soon and first responders, including New York City’s EMTs, paramedics and FDNY fire inspectors, are likely to be among the first to receive the vaccine.
Local union 2507 Vice-President Michael Greco, who represents 4,000 FDNY members, said he was happy with the distribution plan.
“It’s nice to see that we are going to be brought to the table and we are going to be one of the first ones to be considered,” Greco said.
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee on vaccines is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting. The CDC is expected to recommend front-line health care workers and first responders should be the first to receive the vaccine.
“We have had members express that as soon as this is available, they are jumping on it. They really want this vaccine and just as feverishly we have had opponents of that, that absolutely not. They aren’t going to take it,” Greco said.
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee is expected to meet Dec. 10 to consider emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Moderna vaccine will be one week after that.
“We could be seeing both of these vaccines out and getting into people’s arms before Christmas,” Secretary Azar told CBS This Morning.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn said on the PIX11 News Monday morning, “So we of course want everyone who will be eligible for the vaccine to receive it. We have been very transparent about our criteria.”
After health care workers and first responders, the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and nursing home residents, could be next in line.
Officials have said healthy adults may have access to the vaccine in the spring of 2021, but children may have to wait even longer.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said on NBC’s Meet The Press Sunday said that vaccine trials in children may not begin until early 2021.
“You find out is it safe in children and does it induce the kind of immune response that’s comparable to that in adults,” Dr. Fauci said.
According to the federal government, it will be up to the states to distribute the vaccine. And if both pending vaccines are approved, possibly more than 20 million Americans will have access to the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of December.