Nicholas Williams, Emma Seiwell
New York Daily News
(TNS)
With 70 unvaccinated city firefighters poised to lose their jobs, according to their union, the organization is calling for the COVID jab mandate to go away “just like the pandemic has.”
Many of the unvaccinated smoke eaters asked for exemptions about 10 months ago, according to Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, but they only recently got word that their appeals had been denied.
“We ask for the mandate to go away just like the pandemic has. It’s time to move on,” Ansbro said at a Thursday press conference.
The unvaccinated firefighters have received letters stating that they must get the shot within three days, or they’ll be placed on leave and scheduled for termination by the FDNY, according to a union official.
About a dozen of those affected have been on leave since November, while the majority have continued to work, Ansbro said.
The city has stopped enforcing the vaccine mandate for private employers, according to published reports. But the jab requirement, introduced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, remains in effect for city government employees.
Mayor Adams previously balked at the union’s requests for the FDNY to be exempted.
His office did not answer an emailed question asking whether the city would end the mandate as per the union’s request.
“Our goal was always to vaccinate, not terminate,” Adams said in a statement. “We have not faced any staffing or operational challenges due to the city’s vaccine mandate and it remains in effect.”
The FDNY did not immediately answer a request for comment.
Twenty smoke eaters have been fired since the mandate was enacted in October 2021, with several hundred opting to resign or retire instead of getting vaccinated, according to Ansbro.
With 98% of the FDNY vaccinated, “there’s no reason why to continue down this path when we are at those numbers,” he said.
Vaccination efforts have brought the city’s fatality and hospitalization numbers way down, though the Big Apple’s latest infection rate came to about 10.5%, according to the city Health Department.
“We are currently two and a half years into this pandemic and by all counts, we are well on our way to putting it behind us.” Ansbro said.
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