NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Seventy New York City firefighters will be fired if they don't hurry up and get vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the week.
listen to 1010 wins
The city has finally denied the firefighters' requests for medical and religious exemptions, which had been pending since last November.
Andrew Ansbro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said Thursday that those members now have a big decision to make.
"Seventy firefighters are facing the choice of either getting a vaccination that they do not need or, based on their deeply held beliefs, do not want or get terminated," he said.
Ansbro said that the union currently has "several lawsuits that are ongoing" to challenge the mandate.
"New York City is now rushing to deny all the reasonable accommodations and deny New York City firefighters their rights [under] a New York City, New York state human rights law," he said.
Ansbro said he now thinks many of the holdouts will choose to get vaccinated because they have families to support.
"We expect a few of them to get the shot, quite a few to get the shot, but that still doesn't make up for the fact that their rights are being trampled on and that the court is very likely to rule in our favor on this," Ansbro said.
He added that he doesn't know why the city is forcing this issue with unvaccinated firefighters making up a small percentage of the department.
"The fire department is currently at 98% vaccinated," he said. "The vast majority are vaccinated. There's no reason why to continue down this path when we're at those numbers."
The union president argued that most of those unvaccinated have had COVID and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said those people are just as protected as those who have been vaccinated.
However, the CDC has maintained that getting vaccinated "is a safer and more dependable way to build immunity" than getting sick with the virus and that the "vaccine gives most people a high level of protection" and "can provide added protection for people who [have] already had it."
Of the 70 who face termination, ABC 7 reported that 24 of them have not been on the job and haven't been getting paid since November. Twelve have had their reasonable accommodations against the vaccine denied. They could ultimately sue.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the city's actions in a statement.
"Our goal was always to vaccinate, not terminate, and that is why 98% of city employees are fully vaccinated," Adams said. "We have not faced any staffing or operational challenges due to the city's vaccine mandate and it remains in effect."
Related
Related
