Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media that paramedics in Greene County have been approved by the state Department of Health to vaccinate people in the field, officials announced March 26. The paramedics previously completed the state’s vaccinator training program and were able to assist at clinics run by Greene County Public Health, but they are now authorized to independently vaccinate residents, including the homebound. Greene County Legislature Chairman Patrick Linger said, “Greene EMS could do a small pod in some of the more remote areas where it doesn’t make sense to bring 15 or so personnel out to do a county pod. It has a lot of benefit to it and it will definitely help us.” Paramedics have already started vaccinating residents independently. Paramedic Nadine Myrdycz vaccinated 15 residents in Catskill on March 25. Fourteen paramedics are certified to administer the vaccines, Greene EMS President Mark Evans said. “We’re not taking any medics off the road,” he said. These are people that are off-duty, who come in to help out on their day off. Scheduling and submitting the vaccination records to the state is handled by Greene County Public Health, Linger said. Greene EMS is administering the vaccine allocated to Greene County. More than 5,400 Greene County residents are now fully vaccinated, according to the state’s vaccine tracker. To sign up for the county’s vaccine notification system, visit greene government [dot] com [slash] covid [dash] sign [dash] up. The link is available on the WGXC Newsroom page. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.