Los Angeles County firefighters see ‘drastic drop’ in positive COVID-19 cases after vaccinations

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – The Los Angeles County Fire Department says it sees a “drastic drop” in the test positivity rate and the number of employees sick with COVID-19 in its workforce.

“With an acceptance rate of nearly 75% in our department, the COVID-19 vaccine allows us to keep our first responders on track to stay as healthy as possible during these most difficult times of the pandemic” , said County Fire Chief Daryl L. Osby. declared.

“With the second dose of the vaccine now being delivered to our team members, this will provide another layer of protection and allow us to continue to seamlessly provide the highest level of care to our patients.”

WATCH: LAFD receives enough doses of COVID vaccine for departmental firefighters

The department’s weekly positivity rate was 18% in December. This rate is now 5.6%.

The Fire Department’s Office of Emergency Medical Services coordinated its first county-wide vaccination clinics in late December, administering more than 3,000 vaccines.

“As expected, the vaccine began to impact seven to ten days after the first vaccines were administered,” LA County Fire Department medical director Dr Clayton Kazan said. As the county continues to increase, new cases among department staff have started to drop precipitously, as has our test positivity rate. This is the first time in the entire pandemic that our data diverges from that of the county.”

Firefighters are expected to receive their second dose this week.

The video above is taken from a previous report.