Plymouth Firefighters Receive First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine

For immediate release

PLYMOUTH — Chief G. Edward Bradley and Director of the Plymouth Public Health Department Karen Keane are pleased to announce that the Plymouth Fire Department received their first doses of the Moderna vaccination today.

Members of the Plymouth Fire Department received their first dose of the vaccination at clinics hosted at the Plymouth Fire Department Headquarters, 114 Sandwich St., and at the Manomet Fire Station, 827 State Road, earlier today. Plymouth Police received their first doses of the vaccination at the Plymouth Police Station today as well.

“It’s a privilege of ours to be able to host these vaccination clinics for the first responders in our town,” Director Keane said. “While the general public will still have to wait for the vaccination to be available to them, the vaccination of our emergency personnel is a step in the right direction to continue battling COVID-19. While residents await the vaccination, we ask that they continue to wear a mask, social-distance, wash their hands and do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Plymouth.”

At the clinic, Fire Chief Bradley, Deputy Chief Neil Foley, District 1 Vice President of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and Plymouth Firefighter James Brown and Plymouth Fire personnel all received the Moderna vaccine. They will receive their second dose within the next 28 days.

The clinics at the Plymouth Fire Department were made possible thanks to the Plymouth Firefighters Local 1768, the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts and Director of Plymouth Public Health Karen Keane.

“As the phases roll out and the vaccine becomes available to the general public, I highly recommend that our residents go out and get it as soon as they possibly can so we can help get the town, state and country back to some normalcy,” Chief Bradley said. “The process we went through today was quick and painless, but will help us to combat the COVID-19 pandemic as we respond to COVID-19 medical calls or any calls involving members of the general public.”

“The COVID-19 vaccine has been a long time coming. We’ve been adapting to the situations and the protocols surrounding the pandemic since March, but this finally brings a sense of relief,” District 1 Vice President Brown said. “By receiving this vaccine, we are doing something proactively to protect our firefighters whose job it is to go out and protect the community.”

At the clinics, paramedics from the Brewster Ambulance Service administered the vaccine and provided administrative oversight. Brewster Ambulance Service, which serves as the Town of Plymouth’s transport ambulance service, has over 200 vaccinators in their ranks.

“Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is going to put an end to this pandemic, which is the most important thing we can do,” Deputy Chief Foley said. “We are here today to publicly show our staff getting the vaccine and that everyone is doing well with it. We are going to continue to vaccinate the rest of our staff and hopefully we will have a high percentage of staff members receiving it.”

First responders recently became eligible to receive the vaccination through the state’s staggered vaccination distribution plan, which will release the vaccination to people through a list of groups ranked by priority.

The community is reminded that the vaccine will not be available to the general public until April at the earliest through the state’s vaccination distribution plan. To learn more, click here. 

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