A driver gives a thumbs up as his passenger is given a COVID-19 vaccination by a healthcare worker at a drive-thru site at Tropical Park on January 13, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Miami-Dade County is distributing a limited number of coronavirus vaccines at the Tropical Park site, by appointment only, for seniors 65 years of age and older.
A study conducted at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine has found that first responders have mixed feelings about getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Of the nearly 3,200 firefighters and emergency medical service workers that were sampled in the study, 24.2% said they felt unsure about the vaccine, while 27.6% reported "low acceptability."
48.2% of sample respondents expressed "high acceptability" of the vaccine.
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“An important predictor we discovered from our study was that first responders who had not reported receipt of the influenza vaccine in the prior season had higher odds of being unsure about or not wanting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” said Alberto J. Caban-Martinez, the study lead and senior author.
“We can leverage this study’s information to design workplace interventions that educate and encourage our first responders to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The results were published on February 1 in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
