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Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue has completed more than 400 COVID-19 vaccinations of its frontline personnel and 200 law enforcement officers as of Jan . 12 . Vaccinations will continue through the coming weeks and months .
“ This is a long time coming ,” said TVF & R Fire Chief Deric Weiss , on the first day of vaccinations . “ For me to see the first few people go through , it ’ s a culmination of all the hard work by the men and women across the organization . They ’ re excited and they ’ re encouraged about the future now . There ’ s a lot of work ahead , but today ’ s a good day .”
TVF & R started vaccinating firefighters and paramedics Jan . 3 at its South Operating Center in Wilsonville .
In partnership with county health partners , TVF & R moved on to vaccinate police and fire partners , including personnel from Forest Grove Fire & Rescue , Tualatin Police Department , Tigard Police Department , Beaverton Police Department and Sherwood Police Department . More agencies and city and county partners are in the process of scheduling vaccination events with the district in the weeks ahead .
Paramedic Megan Rye was TVF & R ’ s first vaccine recipient . She ’ s been a
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paramedic since 2007 and joined TVF & R in 2017 .
“ I feel great ,” she said . “ I ’ m excited for the opportunity to get it and excited to start protecting our residents . It just provides everyone a little bit of hope in a time that ’ s not the greatest . I think it will give me a little more confidence when treating patients .”
Paramedic Jesse Gonzalez also feels relieved to be vaccinated , but he ’ s not letting his guard down .
“ Having some assurance that we ’ re protected is a huge deal for us and the community , but we ’ re still wearing
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