FDNY firefighters began receiving coronavirus vaccines on Tuesday, but a planned firing of shots for the NYPD was dismissed, with a union note citing a delay at the end of the state.
“I got it because I want to protect the people I love, the people I work with, the people I love,” said firefighter Martha Brekke, one of the first to receive the shot at FDNY headquarters in downtown Brooklyn.
“I think it’s important to take care of as many people as we can.”
Between three locations: the general department plus the fire department on Randall Island and the Fort Totten EMS academy in Queens, the FDNY can now inoculate about 450 members a day.
This account includes EMS workers, who began receiving the vaccine last week.
The deployment came in the face of a survey conducted earlier this month by the Uniformed Firefighters Association which indicated that more than half of smoke consumers would refuse the vaccine.
Union President Andy Ansbro, who said the reluctance was due in part to a “real education problem” about who needs the vaccine, was one of those fired on Tuesday.
“We hope this helps a lot in reclaiming the city and the country,” he said.
Ansbro praised the department and the union’s latest efforts to deter firefighters ’fears through information and was cautiously optimistic that they would appear to be working.
“The union had a question and answer with a virologist and we answered all the questions our members sent us. About two dozen members contacted me saying that the work we have done has changed their minds.” , he said.
“Right now it looks like several thousand members have signed up to get this and that’s very encouraging.”
The FDNY said on Tuesday that now more than 1,000 EMS workers in the city have been vaccinated.
There are approximately 4,400 FDNY EMS workers and 11,000 firefighters.
But while the bravest lined up, the best kept waiting.
A note distributed Monday within the Detowives’ Endowment Association said a planned release for police was on Tuesday due to supply problems with the state.
“The state has not released the vaccine in the amount required for the NYPD,” the note reads in part.
NYPD commissioner Dermot Shea confirmed the detention during an extensive briefing Tuesday morning, noting that the department “anxiously awaits” its blows.
Union leaders blasted government bureaucracy over delays.
“The lives of the police and New Yorkers we serve are being seriously endangered by the delay in the COVID-19 vaccine available in the NYPD,” DEA President Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement.
“Detectives have thousands of close contact interactions every day with the public as we continue to keep people safe, providing medical assistance and responding to calls for help,” he continued. “After the death of six detectives and the rise in the current number of viruses, DEA members need the vaccine before another family tragically falls behind, and they need it now.”
According to the department, forty-eight members of the NYPD have died of the coronavirus.
Patrick Lynch, head of the Police Charity Association, agreed with DiGiacomo.
“Once again, politicians from Albany and the City Council are wasting time with bureaucratic gymnastics instead of looking at the reality of the terrain,” he said in a statement. “New York City police officers are not just on the front lines. We cover every part of the front line – from hospitals and apartment complexes to the corner store.
“We have more daily contact with New Yorkers than any other agency in the city,” Lynch continued. “We continue to push for vaccines to be made available to police officers as soon as possible.”
A spokesman for the state Department of Health said vaccines are on the way for police officers, but that priority groups ahead of them, including front-line health workers and those in nursing homes, they are still being inoculated.
“The NYPD as lifeguards is eligible for Phase 1b, that hasn’t changed, and any suggestions we’re holding back from providing vaccines are obviously false,” Gary Holmes said. “We are still in the middle of Phase 1, which includes front – line health workers, nursing homes and certain congregated care centers.
“The timing depends on when vaccine supply is available and we look forward to working with NYPD and all first aid in the operational distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.”
Because they are trained and certified to fight fires and administer emergency medical services, firefighters are qualified for the first phase.
Shea stated earlier this month that vaccines would not be mandatory for New York staff, but later opened the door for them to become mandatory.