ORLANDO, Fla. — Dozens of Orlando firefighters are helping protect local seniors against the coronavirus through a program that brought the vaccine straight to them.

A trained team of more than 40 firefighter paramedics began administering coronavirus vaccines at five senior living facilities city-wide last month, according to Ashley Papagni, the public information manager for the Orlando Fire Department.

The final batch of second doses were administered Friday to the seniors, many of whom are homebound.

Engineer Paramedic Michael Ocampo is one of the firefighters on this vaccine team.

“For us it’s very rewarding, just cause we know we’re actually changing somebody’s life, as far as them able to have a little more freedom, possibly in the near future, to go see a grandkid, hug a grandkid, see kids, family members,” he explained.

For Michael Ouellette, a homebound senior vaccinated Thursday at Magnolia Towers, it was an unexpected lifeline.

“I had no idea how I was going to get the shot prior to that being available to me, them coming here,” he said. “So it’s very gratifying to have that happen, very much so.”

The firefighter-paramedics administered the doses on their time off, outside their normal work schedule.

In all, 657 seniors were vaccinated through this program, which was in conjunction with Florida Department of Health in Orange County, explained Papagni.

The vaccine team is also helping administer doses at the county’s COVID-19 vaccination site over at the Orange County Convention Center.