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One of the largest labor unions in the city of Sacramento has stated its opposition to a vaccination mandate of all city employees. Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 said in a letter to Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council that it "adamantly supports our members having the 'right to choose' to be vaccinated or not."
Chris Andrew, the president of Local 522, did not stop there: "Doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, correctional officers and other essential workers have been on the front lines with COVID from the beginning," Andrew wrote in a letter dated Wednesday.
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"All of these professionals have learned, through research and experience, the risks of COVID-19. We are very confident that our members have educated themselves in order to make the best decision for themselves and their families."
Andrew's letter is a shot across the bow as the city of Sacramento, other municipalities and California officials respond to spiking transmission levels of the coronavirus. Opposition to vaccine mandates, and even mask mandates, has gained steam recently. On Tuesday, anti-vaccination speakers took up hours of a day-long meeting of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to voice their opposition to vaccinations.
In Sacramento, a vaccine mandate would have to be negotiated with labor partners. Those negotiations are underway, so Andrew's letter is the most public form of opposition yet to a vaccine mandate in the city.
Steinberg, who has voiced support for a vaccine mandate in Sacramento, responded quickly to Andrew.
"I am told that approximately 55 percent of Sacramento firefighters and paramedics are vaccinated," Steinberg responded in a letter to Andrew. "That means the other 45 percent are interacting with the public and potentially spreading the disease. It is highly irresponsible to insist that this is a matter of personal freedom and choice. Medically vulnerable residents of our city should be able to trust that a firefighter or paramedic who arrives to help them won't infect them."
Sacramento's rates for full (50.01%) and at least partial (56.8%) vaccination continue to trail California's averages, which are now 54.8% and 63.3%, respectively, data from the state health department show.
Coronavirus infections have been rising rapidly across the capital region, as well as throughout California and the U.S., due to the highly contagious delta variant, which the California Department of Public Health reports made up more than 86% of cases tested for variants in July.
Statewide, test positivity for the virus jumped tenfold from a record low of 0.7% in mid-June to 7% by the end of July. COVID-19 hospitalizations across California, which entered July at just over 1,000, have swelled to more than 6,250 as of Tuesday's update from CDPH.
Daily cases in Sacramento County essentially quadrupled in a month, from 7.2 per 100,000 residents for the week ending July 1 up to 28 per 100,000 by July 31, according to the local health office.
Last week, the California Department of Public health reported that the viral load is 1,000 times higher in people infected with the delta variant than those infected with other strains of the coronavirus. State health officials confirm that unvaccinated are more likely to become infected and spread the virus, typically through the air.
A potential showdown over a vaccination mandate between city officials and city firefighters, which have been able to receive the jab since January, could put city residents in the middle.
"One's personal freedom is not unlimited, " Steinberg said in his response to Local 522. "Especially where it collides directly with the need to protect the community against a contagious and dangerous disease."
If Local 522 can't or won't come to an agreement with City Manager Howard Chan, the city could conceivably enact a vaccination mandate unilaterally, like Gov. Gavin Newsom has implemented with health care workers. But that option likely would be challenged in court.
State officials have mandated vaccinations for state workers and teachers, but allowed for an option of weekly testing.
" The Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 is unwavering in our belief that our membership must retain the ability of personal choice," Andrew wrote. "We will aggressively fight against any attempt to take away each of our member's individual right to choose."
The Sacramento Bee's Michael McGough contributed to this story.
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