Coronavirus: JFRD set to roll out COVID-19 vaccinations next week

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) announced Thursday it would roll out COVID-19 vaccinations to its employees, starting Monday.

Injections will be administered at the Prime Osborn Convention Center. JFRD Fire Chief, Keith Powers, said the goal is to vaccinate 25% of the department daily, over a six-day period.

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Chief Powers, alongside about 25 other firefighters, received the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday (link story).

“Just to show there’s nothing to fear,” Chief Powers said. “I wasn’t concerned about it at all.”

Action News Jax reporter, Meghan Moriarty, asked about the general consensus from the department.

“I really haven’t talked to a lot of folks. I’ve been extremely busy this week,” Chief Powers said. “I think we’ll have a pretty good number of folks who take it.”

The vaccine will not be mandatory. Moriarty asked how many people are signed up to get one. Chief Powers said he didn’t have that number.

Right now, 74 JFRD employees are in quarantine, which is under 5% of the department. Thirty-two currently have the virus. In total, 282 personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

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Once vaccinations are complete, the next step for JFRD is to help administer vaccines to the community.

“We need to get our teachers and our police officers and other frontline folks immunized first,” Chief Powers said. “Then start getting this community, elderly folks immunized, so we can get rid of this nasty virus.”