HAMBURG, N.Y. — Nursing homes and healthcare workers were some of the first to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in New York State.
Funeral directors and EMT's are also included in this first round, including Pearl Omphalius, who shared her experience with 2 On Your Side's Danielle Church after receiving the vaccine Thursday morning.
"It was very painless. I didn't even feel it. It was like any other inoculation. I'm not sore, I can raise my arm, I can do all kinds of things. I'm fine. It hasn't turned red or blotchy, I've had no side effects whatsoever. It's like any other typical shot," Omphalius said.
Omphalius is a volunteer EMT and the EMS captain at the Armor Volunteer Fire Company in Hamburg.
She says she found out a week ago that she was eligible for the coronavirus vaccine and says the decision to take it or not was a no-brainer.
"It's not 100 percent full proof but if we could have a herd mentality, I hate wearing these masks. I would love to go back to our everyday being social, not having to worry about grandma or grandpa dying because someone decided to not bring the virus into their home," Omphalius said.
She's also the owner of We R Nuts in the Broadway Market.
With barely any business coming into the market these days, Omphalius says getting back to normal is key for the market seeing more business this Easter season than last.
Omphalius says she had to show several documents when registering for the Moderna vaccine, including her driver's license, a letter from the fire chief and a card saying she belonged to the fire hall.
She says she saw several other fire companies over at Catholic Health's Bertrand Chaffee Hospital in Springville.
She will have to go back at the end of January to get her second dose.
Officials at Catholic Health say they've vaccinated several hundreds so far and have sites set up to vaccinate first responders.
