Riverside County frontline healthcare workers get Moderna vaccine in Riverside

Hundreds of Riverside County first responders received their first dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine in Riverside on Wednesday.

“I just received my first round of vaccinations,” Dean Veik, Cal Fire staff southern California region chief told News Channel 3.

He said it was a bit of a predicament choosing whether to get the vaccine in the first place.

“After reading some of the literature that has come out from public, private healthcare, epidemiologists, county health, I decided for my family for my department and our customer service that it would be a good idea so it kind of changed my mind with all the information,” Chief Veik said.

500 healthcare workers made appointments and a long line of healthcare workers waited on standby for an open spot if someone didn’t show up to their appointment.

“I actually got really lucky," Danielle Martinez said. "I was following Riverside County Health on Twitter and Dr. Kaiser posted that they were going to be having some extra vaccines and so I made the appointment last night online, very easy, answered a couple of questions and then came for my appointment time and that was pretty much it,” she said.

Martinez is a physician assistant in Riverside. She said the shot felt like getting a flu shot.

“I feel fantastic," Martinez said. "I’m really glad the hospitals and EMTs and nursing homes were able to get it first,” she said.

County Health nurses and AMR nurses administered the vaccines at this clinic and are seeing very little reaction from people receiving it.

“The only thing people experience is a little bit of redness and swelling and minor discomfort at the injection site,” Shane Reichardt, with the County of Riverside Emergency Management said. The county is working to bring more clinics like this one to other areas in the county.

For more information visit: https://www.ruhealth.org/covid-19-vaccine