Table 3.

Perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination.

Perspectives about COVID-19 Vaccines	Comments from First Responders
Supporter	I do, I talk to pretty much everybody at work, who I work around, or I see at work and encourage it [COVID-19 vaccine]. (Department leader, male, 50s.)
	We are all getting it, yeah. We were all on the no-waste list. And now that they just opened up to police today the remaining people in my section who never got called from the no-waste list are getting it. So, the whole section will have had it by the end of this week. (Other staff, female, 30s.)
Non-supporter	None of them [coworkers] are getting it. Um, I just don’t think they’re buying into the, you know, you need this rushed vaccine. (Department leader, male, 40s.)
	No, I have not gotten one and I don’t think I’m planning to. (Department leader, male, 50s.)
Reasons for not getting vaccinated
Do not trust vaccine development	It just seemed like it was a little rushed to come out with a vaccine so quickly. (Police officer, female, 30s.)
	Let’s face it, they rushed this thing through really, really, fast. So, let’s kinda wait and let everybody else take it since I know I’m safe for now. Let’s let everybody else be the guinea pig. (Firefighter, male, 50s.)
Side effects	My biggest thing was just not knowing enough about what could potentially happen like in the future, if there were any long-term effects. That was like my biggest hold-up with it [COVID-19 vaccine]. (Firefighter, male, 30s.)
	Everybody was like, “Yeah, I got a sore shoulder for 24 h. Big deal.” Then everybody started getting the second shot and they look like shit for four days. And then everybody’s looking around at each other like, “Do I really want to feel like that?” (Paramedic, male, 40s.)