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 A lack of detailed federal guidelines has forced U.S. states and
counties to create their own plans for distributing initially
limited doses of COVID-19 vaccines in hopes of curbing a raging
pandemic that has killed more than 332,000 Americans.
All states have prioritized nursing homes and frontline healthcare
workers, following federal guidelines. But the federal plan does not
define frontline health workers, and local decisions sometimes
differ on whether the United State's roughly 430,000 emergency
medical technicians, or EMTs, are included.
Missouri's firefighters and EMTs do not expect vaccination before
the end of January or February during the next distribution phase,
said Donna Lake, chief of the Kansas City fire department.
Lake's 1,000 first responders treat and transport COVID-19 patients
daily and three of her staff died from COVID-19 during the pandemic.
She and unions have written to Governor Mike Parson, urging him to
reconsider the ranking and include EMTs in the same tier as hospital
staff.
"I feel like we've done our part in protecting our community... and
it's disappointing that our governor doesn't seem to think it's now
time to protect us," she said.
Parson's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Emergency Medical Technicians respond to 911 calls and transport
patients to hospitals. Depending on their training and state
licensing laws, they can also administer intravenous medication.
Many firefighters are also EMTs.
Firefighters EMTs in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and New York
have begun receiving vaccines. In Florida, state guidelines slotted
firefighter EMTs into a later phase, although some counties have
inoculated them anyway.
Jules Scadden, who represents emergency medical services at the
National Volunteer Fire Council said federal coordination could have
avoided the chaos.
"We've all come through this wishing there was more federal
guidance," Scadden said.
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 The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services and the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Colorado, where firefighters and EMTs are
also part of a later vaccination phase, some
fire chiefs are trying to locate vaccines
themselves.
"I feel like it's every person to
themselves...but there's zero coordinated effort
from the state of Colorado," said Don Lombardi,
chief at Denver-area West Metro Fire Rescue,
which counts 385 firefighter paramedics and EMTs.
Lombardi last week secured 60 vaccine doses for
his staff and criticized state health officials
and the governor for ignoring requests for
vaccine prioritization. The
office for Colorado Governor Jared Polis in a statement said
Colorado has prioritized healthcare providers with direct contact
with COVID-19 patients to save lives until the vaccine becomes more
widely available.
By contrast, Chad Powers, a volunteer EMT firefighter in Minnesota's
Kandiyohi County on Monday received his first shot at a local fire
station converted into a drive-through vaccine clinic, attributing
the smooth process to effective collaboration between the local
health and fire department.
Some 1,600 miles further west in southwest Washington state, EMT
firefighter volunteer David Owens on Monday learned he would receive
his vaccine on Jan. 3.
 "I was elated," Owens said. "My greatest fear through all of this
was being an asymptomatic carrier and harming my patients."
(Reporting by Tina Bellon in New York; editing by Peter Henderson
and Sam Holmes)
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