Paramedics and emergency medical responders were included in Phase 1 of Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which started in January. Front-line police officers are part of Phase 2C, which is expected between April and June.
Firefighters have not been identified as a priority group so far in Alberta’s phased vaccine plan.
As Dr. Deena Hinshaw explained Thursday, the province is making vaccine prioritization decisions based on personal risk of severe outcomes or death, rather than risk of exposure to the virus.
“Some people are under the impression that we used the risk of people being exposed to COVID-19 as part of our categorization,” she said.
“Or some people, I think, perhaps feel that we’ve looked at so-called essential services and we’ve used the relative value of different occupations to prioritize. Neither of those is correct.
“The criteria that we used were, first of all, those who were at highest risk of severe illness and death and those who were the most likely to potentially expose those individuals based on their occupation and the groups that they interact with,” Hinshaw said.
“We know that paramedics are often involved in inter-facility transfers between long-term care facilities and hospital. And we know that long-term care, supportive-living facilities are some of those highest risk environments.”
Part of providing that wrap-around protection to those in high-risk settings includes vaccinating employees who go in and out of those sites — like paramedics — Hinshaw added.
The Edmonton Fire Fighters’ Union (EFFU) has been pushing for members to be vaccinated earlier.
“While the majority of our members provide medical first response service, we are not designated as emergency medical responders, thereby excluding us from prioritized vaccination lists,” the union said.