PORTLAND, Maine — EDITOR'S NOTE: The above video highlights a Maine company that makes protective gloves for cold-storage handling of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The Portland Professional Firefighters Union, Local 740 Facebook page posted on Sunday morning that its emergency medical service members and other first responders are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
"We have examined the research and talked with doctors. We are confident the effectiveness of this vaccine will help beat this virus and help save lives of our first responders and our patients," the Facebook post said.
It appears from the photo posted that the first responders are receiving the Moderna vaccine. Officials with the department say this vaccine is optional.
This past Wednesday, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in York County began receiving their initial doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
The York County Incident Management Team (IMT) had been planning for the arrival of the vaccine and put in place a structure aimed at ensuring rapid delivery of the vaccine to all York County EMTs, a group included in Phase 1A of vaccine delivery as recommended by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Maine Emergency Medical Services selected the Old Orchard Beach, Sanford, and Kennebunk Fire Departments to store and distribute the vaccine under the organization of the York County IMT, who coordinated strike teams to administer the vaccine, beginning last Wednesday morning.