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As vaccination mandate looms, New York City prepares for shortage of cops, others -Breaking

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By Peter Szekely

NEW YORK (Reuters), New York City officials prepared for shortages among firefighters, officers, and first responders. As a result, a battle looms between New York City and its uniformed unvaccinated workforce. The deadline is 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT).

Union leaders representing police officers and firefighters have suggested that more than one third of their members may be allowed to return home unpaid after Monday’s implementation of COVID-19.

“If you’re going to take a third of the ambulances off-line, if you’re going to take a third of the engine companies off-line, you’ll without question increase response times and increase the rate of death,” Uniformed Firefighters Association Andrew Ansbro told NY1 TV on Friday.

However, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his mandate nine days before. He said that officials are prepared to handle any staffing shortages with schedule and overtime changes, and by recruiting private ambulance companies for coverage of the city’s paramedics.

On Thursday, Mayor Richardson spoke with reporters about the moves and pointed out the fact that there were staff shortages in the city last year because many coronavirus-infected first responders.

This latest episode in a string of conflicts over vaccination mandates in America was in Washington, D.C.

New York City uniformed workers (including sanitation workers) have protested at several locations this week. Many believe consideration should be given to the natural immunity of COVID patients, which according to the firefighters union includes 70%.

Officials from the city’s health department stated that although research is still ongoing to establish the level of immunity previous COVID infections produce, there is widespread consensus that vaccinations can increase protection even for people who are already infected.

De Blasio indicated that 76% of uniformed workers who face the deadline for vaccinations have had at least one shot, while 86% of all city workers are covered. He said that 64% of Fire Department workers had received a vaccine, and nearly 34% of Police employees did so.

But he stressed that these rates will likely rise by Monday.

He cited earlier New York State and City mandate deadlines, which prompted people to rush to get last-minute vaccinations. It was a sign that they were beginning to realize that their paychecks weren’t coming any more.

De Blasio said to reporters that it was then “very clear” what the team had to do on Thursday.

The state’s vaccination requirements were implemented on September 27th. Governor Kathy Hochul announced that 92% had received at least one vaccine and that 85% of employees in hospitals were now fully vaccinated. This is an increase from the 77% reported a month prior.

De Blasio stated that thousands of teachers in the city and school staff waited to be vaccinated until the last days of Oct. 1.

Both firefighter and police unions filed suits against the mandate. Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York (which represents 24,000 officers) lost its attempt earlier in the week to get a court order to delay the deadline. However, the request was taken to the state appeals court.

Generally, the courts are not supportive of efforts to stop vaccine mandates.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor rejected https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-courts-sotomayor-lets-new-york-school-vaccine-mandate-remain-2021-10-01 a request by four teachers and teaching assistants to block the city’s Oct. 1 mandate for school workers. Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a request from students at Indiana University in August to block the school’s Oct. 1 vaccine mandate.

A federal judge in Chicago was set to rule Friday on a petition by firefighters and other workers seeking a court order for a halt to vaccine mandates placed by the Mayor Lori Lightfoot (both Democrats) and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

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