Firefighters some of the first to get vaccines

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- More than 900 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived at Elkhart General Hospital Thursday, and bright and early Friday morning, they made history administering the vaccine for the very first time to frontline healthcare workers.

Among the first to receive the vaccine, was South Bend Fire Department’s Ryan Takacs.

His experience was simple and quick! He was in and out within just a few minutes and said he didn’t feel a thing!

“I walked right in, they took down my information my appointment was scheduled minutes later I was seated down and I had my shot and I waited for the 15 minutes to monitor and walked right out,” South Bend Fire Department Community Outreach Coordinator Ryan Takacs said.

Takacs said he had no skepticism before going in, but instead felt nothing but excitement!

“It was an easy decision for me,” Takacs said. “I’m not an expert on these things, I trust the people that are doctors and that put those messages out to us as a public of what’s safe and what’s not.”

Other South Bend Firefighters also made their way to Elkhart General get their vaccine too!

“We’ve had quite a few members in this morning, quite a few more coming this afternoon and then other guys throughout these next two days,” Takacs said.

Takacs hopes that sharing his experience will encourage more first responders take this huge step forward to help slow the spread and protect others in the community.

“Hopefully a lot of our members take advantage of this, get vaccinated, a lot of the frontline workers hopefully they take advantage of this, not only for their safety and their family’s safety but the safety of the public and the people we respond to on a daily basis.”

Another shipment of Pfizer vaccination is expected to arrive to Michiana next week to continue immunizations, and possibly the Moderna vaccine too once its formally approved.