In a letter to the Governor, Assemblyman Santabarbara is urging New York State to adopt the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) that prioritizes emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in Phase 1a for the COVID-19 vaccine once available. This is consistent with the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccines (2020) that also recommends first responders, including ambulance emergency medical technicians, paramedics and personnel for the first phase of the vaccine allocation.  

In the letter Santabarbara notes that those in the EMS field, both paid and unpaid, provide care in an uncontrolled environment and the confined space of an ambulance. “These healthcare providers have the potential for direct and indirect exposure to patients or infectious materials and should be included among first to receive the vaccine – they too place themselves at an extraordinary risk of contracting the virus that is at least that of and in some cases more so than their hospital-based healthcare colleagues.”  

Santabarbara serves as Chair of the NYS Assembly Commission on Rural Resources, during the pandemic the commission has focused on providing important resources needed in rural communities to rebuild their economies and to continue to battle COVID-19. “The reality is, even before the COVID-19 pandemic far too many ambulance services here in upstate New York were forced to close their doors while others have been operating short staffed for years, and those challenges have only increased during the pandemic. They simply cannot afford to lose more members for extended periods of time and continue providing the medical care that has saved lives during this critical time,” Santabarbara added in the letter.