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WILLIMANTIC, CT—With the delta variant hitting the state and nation, local officials continue to express concern about the city fire department's vaccine rate.
As of Monday, only 58 percent of Willimantic Fire Department firefighters had been vaccinated, or 18 out of 31 firefighters, a statistic still concerning local officials.
Willimantic Fire Department Chief Marc Scrivener said they have been hesitant to get vaccinated after one of their co-workers was hospitalized for a week in January.
"One of our firefighters had a really bad reaction," he said, referring to one of the vaccinations. Scrivener did not disclose the name of the firefighter, citing privacy concerns.
He said the vaccination rate among Willimantic firefighters recently went up from 53 percent to 58 percent because one of the new firefighters had been vaccinated.
Town officials are concerned about that rate, which they consider to be very low.
Scrivener said the current vaccination rates in Texas, Louisiana and Florida are low and those states are "getting hit hard" by the delta variant.
"I'd hate to see that come to us," he said.
As of Aug. 4, when state data was last updated, 51.18 percent of the population in Windham was vaccinated.
Town employees are not currently required to be vaccinated, but Windham Town Manager Jim Rivers is investigating whether it is appropriate to issue a mandate.
That involves speaking with the town's labor attorney and reviewing the data.
"I'm most concerned about the firefighters because they're exposed," Rivers said. "They're in the way of the virus on a daily basis, and you'd think they'd want to protect themselves."
Scrivener said there is a "case to be made" that firefighters and EMTs have a higher level of responsibility than others to get vaccinated. He said firefighters wear a "full complement" of protective gear on calls.
At minimum, that means a face- covering, but in some cases, the firefighters must wear a sophisticated mask, goggles and gown.
Rivers said he has spoken to different groups of employees, including the firefighter union, to emphasize the importance of the vaccinations.
He said a lot of town employees told him they are waiting until the vaccines are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to get vaccinated.
"We're all waiting to see what happens and, in a few weeks, we're expecting the Pfizer vaccine to be approved by the FDA," Rivers said.
In an effort to send a message to town employees, he said the time-off policy for town employees will be stricter now.
"Early on, we were quite accommodating to people with symptoms or positive tests, but that time has passed," Rivers said.
"We're trying to gently nudge them towards a good decision here, but they have to make that decision themselves."
Some entities, like the military and universities, are looking into requirements for employees to be vaccinated.
The list of Connecticut universities requiring students to get vaccinated includes the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic.
According to the latest data from the state, 48.8 percent of Windham County had been vaccinated.
Speaking about the low vaccination rate in Windham County, Scrivener said the rural nature of Windham is "in our favor."
"Generally speaking, in our county, people are pretty well spread out," he said.
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