Kentucky firefighter Jimmy Adams saw the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic up close when he served as a paramedic helping care for the sick in emergencies, amid the rise in covid cases. He knew of retired firefighters who died from complications of the disease.
But their reasoning was that they were older and probably had underlying health problems, making them susceptible to the virus.
“This is how you make peace with those things,” said Adams, a 51-year-old lieutenant. He believed that the precautions his department was taking were keeping him safe. But he refused to receive a covid vaccine. The reason was not strictly political, he said. She had gotten tired of the debate about masks, mitigation, case counts, and vaccines.
In mid-August, Adams and his wife, Sara, who was fully vaccinated, gave positive for covid. She experienced mild symptoms; however, he was hospitalized with bilateral interstitial pneumonia. His potassium skyrocketed, causing cardiac arrhythmia. He received oxygen throughout his hospitalization.
“I was wrong,” Adams said days after being discharged. “I suffered a lot. I don’t even know if I’m going to suffer any long-term effects. Does this change who I am for the rest of my life? I don’t have the answer. ”
Now, Adams plans to get vaccinated as soon as his doctor enables him, after he recovers. Still, he, like many other firefighters across the country, does not support covid vaccination mandates.
Firefighter leadership and the grassroots are divided on these mandates. The International Association of Fire Chiefs has expressed support for mandatory vaccinations. In contrast, the International Association of Fire Fighters has said that it “strongly” encourages firefighters to get vaccinated, but does not think it should be mandatory.
Firefighters, who are often certified emergency medical providers, have been on the front lines of the pandemic from the beginning. Therefore, officials pressed to ensure that they were among the first to receive vaccines .
Why, after have seen so much, saved lives, still refuse to get vaccinated and even actively fight the mandates?
JT Sullivan, a firefighter in Wyandotte County, Kansas, said that while he took precautions not to bring coronavirus home when his wife was pregnant, he believed that the pandemic was largely “orchestrated” by the media, even as he saw its effects on his professional life.
He understood that something was happening; he just didn’t think it was as bad as reported. He believed that it mainly affected the elderly and vulnerable adults. At 28, he had no plans to get vaccinated until a paramedic in his department died of complications from covid on January 1. Sullivan got vaccinated shortly after.
“It just took me by surprise because I was younger than my parents,” said Sullivan, who promotes vaccines but also disagrees with the mandates.
Several firefighters said that vaccinated responders reflect the variety of views of many average Americans: some view both the pandemic and the vaccine through a political lens, some believe misinformation, and conspiracies, others simply distrust vaccines and others do not like being told what to do.
Both Adams and Sullivan attributed some resistance to vaccines to having an “alpha” personality and harbor the belief that they can exercise control over what happens to them.
Houston Fire Chief, Samuel Peña , frustrated with his own department’s vaccination rate, which he estimates to be around 50%, he believes there is some truth to that.
“Throughout the career of a lifeguard, be it firefighter, police officer, emergency physician, you build a greater tolerance to tolerable risk because you respond to all kinds of things that put your life in situations dangerous and most of the time you come out unscathed, ”he said. “The level of acceptable risk that we are willing to assume is at a different threshold than that of a normal and reasonable person.”
Peña said that Houston officials have discussed the mandatory nature of the vaccination despite the efforts of the Republican Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, to prevent schools and cities from instituting covid mitigation regulations. The city’s strained relationship with the local fire union could complicate matters. Elsewhere, these mandates have met fierce resistance.
A City of Los Angeles Fire Department Captain is under investigation after posting a video denouncing the “tyranny” of an imminent vaccination mandate. As reported by San Francisco Chronicle , the City of San Francisco Human Resources Department recommended 10-day suspensions without pay for 20 employees, including seven firefighters , for breach of the mandate of that city. News from various cities show employees questioning the legality of these mandates.
There is a long-standing legal precedent for public health and vaccine mandates, he said Sharona Hoffman , professor of law and bioethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
“It is not true that ‘This is United States United and we have 100% freedom. ‘ We have a million laws and regulations that must be followed, ”he said, citing, among them, traffic laws and dress codes at work. “That is what it means to be in a civilized society. That is what is called the ‘social contract’. ”
Allyson Hinzman , firefighter and President of Tacoma Fire Local 31 in Washington, said local unions oppose Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandate. Hinzman said it was rushed and does not allow alternatives, such as weekly covid tests. State workers filed a lawsuit this month against the governor for the mandate.
Firefighters are threatening to resign rather than comply with the rule, which Hinzman said would put even more pressure on already understaffed departments providing emergency services.
He added that firefighters take precautions to avoid transmission of the virus when answering calls. A study from the University of Washington indicates that the risk of spreading the virus among emergency responders and patients is low, due to the safety protocols that are followed.
“This is not about the vaccine,” said Hinzman, who was vaccinated. “It’s about giving our members the opportunity to choose and make decisions for themselves. We are in favor of vaccines, we are in favor of public safety, but we are only against the mandate. ”
Bob McDonald , executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health, sees it differently and said that vaccines are the only way to go from a covid pandemic to a health problem that, like the flu, it can be controlled. Denver has implemented a vaccine mandate for all city employees, including firefighters.
“One of the things that I think is very, very important is to make people understand that these Vaccines, especially with the delta variant, are no longer just for the individual, ”McDonald said, adding that Denver hospitals are at or beyond capacity due to the increase in covid cases. It is everyone’s responsibility to mitigate this risk to reduce the strain on the nation’s medical system, he emphasized.
Peña said that public servants owe it to taxpayers to get vaccinated, since taxpayers finally They are the ones who pay the bills for workers’ compensation or hospitalizations.
Even if employees resign in the event of a vaccination mandate in Houston, Peña said, his department has operated during the pandemic with fewer staff due to members being quarantined after exposure or isolated due to illness. Four Houston firefighters died of covid.
“I have been doing this for 27 years and I can tell you that I never buried a firefighter for a death in line of duty from the flu. ”Said Peña, adding that if the deaths had been due to another mission, the union would push for action. “Just because it’s a medical problem doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking to better protect our firefighters. The vaccine is one way to achieve this. ”
According to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation , which honors and recognizes firefighters who die in the line of duty, 170 firefighters and 78 emergency workers had died from complications from covid as of September 17.
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