Seminole County emergency management team hopeful as first vaccine is given in UK

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - Seminole County Emergency Manager Alana Harris called the sight of the first vaccine given in the UK a much-needed moment of hope.

“It’s the light at the end of the tunnel. I think that it’s a small light, like it’s an extremely long tunnel, but at least there’s something we can see, something there,” he said.

He tells FOX 35 that he’s part of the International Association of Emergency Managers who are all keeping a close eye on developments abroad.

“Anything that is not working well we certainly will include that in after action items and develop plans and procedures so that the lessons don’t have to be learned here in the U.S.,” he said.

He said his office has been preparing for months, already buying freezers for the vaccines and other distribution equipment.

In this photo illustration a doctor holds a bottle labelled as the Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Guwahati, India on 28 November 2020. (Photo illustration by David Talukdar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“We’ve already bought vaccine trailers where they’ll have a separate area where people can come in, they can sit, we can give them the vaccination,” he said. 

He said though it’ll be a slow process at first, emergency planning requires long-term thinking and he’s looking ahead to what mass distribution will look like.
 
“We’ve bought lighting, tents, things like that so in case we do a drive-thru sort of dispensing,” he said.
 
Seeing 90-year-old Margaret Keenan being the first to get vaccinated in the UK is a symbol of hope, according to Harris.

“Certainly hope, hope that we’ll get out of this hopefully within the next couple months to a half a year,” he said.