SAN DIEGO — Multiple fire agencies across the county including CalFire have begun giving out the COVID-19 vaccination to their employees.
On Tuesday, more than 150 firefighters received the first dose of the vaccine at CalFire headquarters. News 8’s cameras were there to show the action.
Numbers show that 90% of CalFire fighters are also EMT’s and paramedics which qualifies them for a vaccine during Tier 1A of the rollout. There have been over 550 firefighters throughout the county vaccinated over the last couple of days through Operation Collaboration.
As part of Operation Collaboration not only are the firefighters getting vaccinated, but they are also being trained on how to administer the vaccine to others.
Firefighters said they want to do their part to push through this tier in order to get to the next tier of other first responders. They added that the rollout is very similar to how they take on wildfires, “It's incredible to see everyone working together, similar to how we take on a fire. The amount of coordination that goes along with it, it really is pretty incredible. It's great to be working side by side not only to receive the vaccinations but also to train each other up. We have over 80 paramedics in the county that have been trained up to give these vaccinations."
Firefighters from CalFire, Borrego Springs, San Marcos and a few other cities received their vaccinations on Tuesday.