TOLEDO, Ohio — Staff at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center were among the first to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, and ProMedica will soon follow suit.
A spokesperson with ProMedica confirmed Thursday that the vaccine is on-site, and the hospital system will begin administering shots to staff on Friday. After hospital staff, next in line for the vaccine are EMS personnel.
“It’s been a challenge just like everyone, we've had 113 firefighters test positive since March,” Sterling Rahe with Toledo Fire and Rescue said.
The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is tasked with vaccinating first responders. However, the department will be handing over the shipments received next week to Mercy Health, which will help carry out those vaccinations.
‘“We’ll go ahead and make sure those first responders that are in the proper category will get vaccinated,” Toledo-Lucas County Health Commissioner Dr. Eric Zgodzinski said.
The definition of "first responder" is very specific in this case, as Ohio has included EMS workers in the first round of vaccinations.
“Definitely those individuals who are paramedics, so those individuals who are in those ambulances getting out to us. But we also have paramedics who are on those fire trucks," Zgodzinski said.
Police officers are one group expected to be included in the next round of vaccinations.
There is still no exact date as to when the vaccine will be available to the average person in Ohio, but doctors are estimating that to be sometime in the spring of 2021