Firefighters get training to provide vaccinations

Captain Micah Genzlinger fights fires, offers medical assistance and — now — is now trained and ready to vaccinate community members against the COVID-19 virus.

He is one of 20 South Burlington firefighters who have volunteered to join the effort to vaccinate Vermonters.

In December, the state asked local emergency medical personnel and firefighters to help administer COVID-19 vaccines in preparation for Vermont’s roll-out. According to Chief Terry Francis, South Burlington Fire was one of the first departments to answer the call with an enthusiastic yes.

Within a week, at least 48 fire and emergency service agencies offered their assistance, representing more than 500 firefighters and EMTs.

South Burlington’s volunteers will help staff state point of distribution clinics in the coming weeks — on their personal time, without pay.

Genzlinger completed another training on Friday, learning how to properly inject people. The trainings, he said, contain information his firefighters are largely familiar with, as all members also have some form of medical training.

“It’s adding another tool to our repertoire to assist the community and county with,” said Genzlinger.

Friday also marked 20 days after he received his second shot of the vaccine, which he hopes people will consider signing up for when it’s available.

“For me personally, I think it’s a great opportunity for people,” he said. As distribution points roll out across the state, he hopes more people can access vaccines.

According to Francis, Vermont is the only state in the country to call upon firefighters and EMTs to assist in vaccinating the community. Genzlinger thinks this is partly because of how small the state is.

“We don’t have a huge number of health care professionals who can just take this on,” he explained. “We need to have creative thinking, and what better group of people to draw on than the emergency medical services and firefighters in state who are used to helping out with that kind of stuff.”

According to the state COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, 19,500 people have completed both rounds of vaccine injections as of Tuesday. In Chittenden County, 11 percent of people have received at least one dose.

Following vaccinations of medical personnel and other front-line health care workers, the next group of Vermonters set to receive vaccines are residents ages 75 and older. To schedule an appointment, visit the Vermont Department of Health website.