Name: FDNY won’t require medics and firefighters to get new COVID-19 vaccine
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FDNY won’t require medics and firefighters to get new COVID-19 vaccine

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Sign up for our&nbsp;&nbsp;to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.New York City medics and firefighters will be among the first in line for the new COVID-19 vaccines as early as mid-December — but they will not be required to take it.The FDNY told its members, including Emergency Medical Service workers, in an internal order Friday that it would soon provide the eagerly-awaited vaccine to first responders.“Vaccination will NOT be mandatory, but the Department recommends that members consider the overall benefits,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro and Chief of Department John Sudnik wrote in the order, obtained by The Post.One veteran FDNY member said the lack of a mandate will put the public at risk.“Unvaccinated first-responders have the potential for being carriers, and therefore can infect others — from the firehouse to the public at large, including our most vulnerable citizens,” the member said.He added, “The public has no way of knowing who took the vaccine and who didn’t. You could be Typhoid Mary … Imagine a crew going into a nursing home, and three or four are not vaccinated. They could spread it to everybody and kill people.”The FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer would only say “There is currently no legal requirement for anyone to take a COVID-19 vaccine.”City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Eleven FDNY members have died of COVID-19 including four EMTs.The FDNY edict could set the stage for schools, with teachers also being vaccinated only voluntarily.The leaders of two FDNY unions agreed with the voluntary distribution of the vaccine, but said they did not press the department to make it policy.“Members should take the opportunity to get the vaccine if it makes them feel safer, but it should be an individual choice,” said Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507, Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Inspectors.Vincent Variale, president of the Uniformed EMS Officers’ Union, said the FDNY did not ask for his union’s input but said its position is well-known.“We’ve always been against mandatory vaccination of members. Our position is that everybody has a right to decide what they want to put in their bodies, and nobody should be forced to take something they don’t agree with,” he said.Anthony Almojera, vice president of the union, said he was in favor of the vaccine but added, “I cannot force a needle in someone’s arm.”“As long as the vaccine is proven safe and effective, we will implore as many people as possible to get it for their personal safety as well as the safety of their families and the patients they take care of,” he said.Reaction among FDNY members commenting on The Rant chat board was mixed.“I will not consider the Red Death vaccine, until there is more long term statistics,” one commenter wrote.Another embraced it while addressing naysayers: “You won’t take a vaccine to potentially protect ur loved ones at home from bringing COVID into ur house? I will be taking it if offered, I value my families well being over my own.”Pfizer and BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for their vaccine, which was said to be 95 percent effective, on Nov. 20. A decision is expected early next month.Distribution guidelines are still being finalized. A vote by a CDC advisory committee is expected Tuesday. Right now the three levels of government — the feds, city and state — do not appear to be exactly on the same page.Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the CDC, has said the that the shot go first to nursing home residents and then to healthcare workers.Under the state’s vaccine distribution plan, health care workers, including EMTs and paramedics, will get top priority to receive the shots along with nursing home residents and those who care for them. The next phase of distribution will include first responders like firefighters and police officers.The city’s plan is focusing first on a “phase 1a” with health care workers and then a “phase 1b” with those older than 65, nursing home residents and essential workers.Daniel Salmon, the head of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University, said the practical implications of a vaccine mandate had to be considered.“You have to think about pragmatically what impact does it have. If the answer is that it helps some people to get the vaccine, but at the same time it creates some ardent refusers and they become outspoken and vocal, you can very well do more harm than good,” Salmon said.Dr. David Battinelli, the chief medical officer at Northwell Health, the state’s largest hospital network, said it would not initially mandate that employees get a vaccine that had only received emergency approval. Formal FDA licensure could come in two or three months.“It will be entirely their choice,” he said.Battinelli said he imagined staff would want the shot, and that the hospital had to properly store the vaccine, which must be kept at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit.“We’re fully prepared to distribute the vaccine,” he said.

Sign up for our&nbsp;&nbsp;to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.New York City medics and firefighters will be among the first in line for the new COVID-19 vaccines as early as mid-December — but they will not be required to take it.The FDNY told its members, including Emergency Medical Service workers, in an internal order Friday that it would soon provide the eagerly-awaited vaccine to first responders.“Vaccination will NOT be mandatory, but the Department recommends that members consider the overall benefits,” Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro and Chief of Department John Sudnik...

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FDNY won’t require medics and firefighters to get new COVID-19 vaccine

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