About 180 of EMS personnel were scheduled to get the vaccine on Wednesday as the health district began distributing doses at the former JC Penney store at the Upper Valley Mall.
“It is really important that we start to begin this because we are going on the offense. We were playing defense and doing contract tracing for so many months,” Patterson said.
“This is an opportunity for us to fight back against the disease. To get people vaccinated so we can really take the first step towards getting back to normal,” he added.
Clark County commissioners directed $60,000 in CARES Act funding to the Clark County Land Reutilization Corp. for a temporary space at the Upper Valley Mall to allow for the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine to local first responders.
Clark County commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said the allocation of those funds will allow health officials to use the space through at least March and provide enough flexible space to safely administer the vaccine.
“In Clark County we are able to begin administering vaccinations for our first responders and that is really important because they are the people who are on the frontlines fighting the pandemic everyday,” Flax Wilt said.
“By allowing them access to the vaccines, it protects them, keeps them safe and healthy as they are out there helping the rest of the public,” she added.
Only EMS personnel who have called and scheduled an appointment with the health district will be vaccinated by them at this time.
Other first responders such as firefighters, who are not paramedics, and members of law enforcement will be vaccinated as part of the next phase and will take priority. That will likely happen early next year.
Chris Chilton, a Springfield firefighter and paramedic, who has been with that department for more than 20 years received the coronavirus vaccine live during Gov. Mike DeWine’s update on the pandemic on Wednesday.
“There is light now. We see this vaccine and hopefully this will be the thing that takes us to where we used to be, at least close to normal,” Chilton told reporters after receiving the vaccine.
Chilton said that the pandemic has been very taxing on first responders and that he plans on sharing his experience with getting the vaccine with the hopes of encouraging others to do the same.
Chilton also noted that he wanted to get the vaccine for a number of reasons, noting that his wife is a nurse and his parents are elderly.
Other emergency medical service personnel will continue to receive coronavirus vaccines on Thursday and early next week.
Larger amounts of vaccine doses are expected to be released early next year, Patterson said.
He said that the health district is preparing to administer the vaccine for future phases, but is awaiting guidance from the state and federal government on those efforts.
Major retail pharmacy chains have also been administering the vaccine and are doing so for places such as long term care facilities.
The state recorded 109 coronavirus related deaths Wednesday and 130 on Tuesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health. There have been a total of 8,361 coronavirus related deaths reported in Ohio during the pandemic.
Clark County had a total of 8,353 cases of the coronavirus and 179 deaths as of Wednesday, according to ODH.
By the numbers
500: Number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received this week
180: Approximate number of EMS personnel getting vaccine Wednesday
8,353: Total number of coronavirus cases in Clark County
179: Number of coronavirus deaths in Clark County
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