March 11, 2021. It was supposed to be a turning point in the coronavirus pandemic for Erin Tokley, a former Philadelphia police officer, Baptist minister, and father of three 47-year-old children. It was supposed to be the day of his appointment with the vaccine.
Instead, it was the date of his funeral.
Tokley – “Toke” his friends and family – died March 3, making it the sixth confirmed death from the Philadelphia Police Department’s COVID-19.
Philadelphia officers were first eligible to be shot in late January and Tokley was eager to get it as soon as he could. But he fell ill in early February, before it was his turn to roll up his sleeves.
The resurgence of COVID-19 this summer and the national debate over vaccination requirements have created a full-blown situation for the nation’s first assistants, who are dying in greater numbers but retreating against mandates.
It’s a heartbreaking situation for Tokley’s widow, Octavia, as the 21st anniversary of her first date approaches on September 10th. She said she has overcome her anger against other police officers who reject the vaccine and are now disappointed. Her husband’s life could not be saved, but hers can still.
“I don’t want to have to be here to support your family for that,” he said. “No one deserves it, especially when it can be prevented.”
Her husband is one of 132 members of police agencies who are known to have died of COVID-19 in 2021, as of Monday, according to the official Down officer website. In Florida alone last month, six people affiliated with law enforcement died over a ten-day period.
In the first half of 2021, 71 police officers in the U.S. died from the virus, a small decrease compared to the 76 who died in the same time period in 2020, according to data collected by the National Memory Fund of the United States. Police officers. Last year, the total figure was 241, making the virus the leading cause of death by law.
Despite the deaths, police officers and first responders are among those most hesitant to get the vaccine and their cases continue to grow. No national statistics show the vaccination rate for the entire U.S. first aid population, but police and fire departments across the country indicate figures well below the national rate of 74% of adults who have had at least one dose.
Frustrated city leaders apply mandates for their municipal employees, including police officers and firefighters, as the delta variant increases. The consequences of mandates range from weekly testing to suspension to completion. It is a marked contrast from the beginning of the vaccine launch, when priority was given to the first interventions to make shots.
“I’m sorry they don’t see it as another security measure,” Octavia Tokley said. “Wear masks, wear bulletproof vests. Protect each other. That’s what you do, protect and serve.”
About 4,828 miles away, San Francisco firefighter Christopher Salas offers his condolences to the Tokley family. “I feel for her, I feel for her husband,” she said.
Salas, 58, has nearly 28 years at work, 21 of them in the city’s tough Tenderloin neighborhood. He wears a mask and washes his hands and disinfects himself. But he falls short of getting the shooting and plans to retire soon instead of accepting the city’s ultimatum to get vaccinated or finish.
“I’m not anti-vaxxer,” he said, “I have all my other vaccines. I just don’t get this one.”
He considered it, only to be able to finish his career with three decades of service. But after praying with his wife, he remains concerned about the effectiveness and side effects of the vaccine.
“I don’t think I would be comfortable with myself if I did something that went against my belief,” he said about the vaccine. “It’s about freedom and having your own choice of being your own person.”
Public health professionals and elected officials, however, argue that it is bigger than that.
Dr. Jennifer Bryan, a family physician and board member of the Mississippi State Medical Association, says she is working to change her mind about a half-hour appointment at a time in a state with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the world. country. With first aid, he reminds them that they can also become patients.
“It’s harder when you want to protect those on the front line,” he said. “When you share air with someone, there is a risk. If you share more air with sick people and your workplace is more public, then you are at risk. ”
“This vaccine is really not just about protecting yourself, but also about protecting your co-workers, your community, the people who go to your church, the people at your children’s school,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, whose city requires all employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18 or face completion.
Unions across the country are fighting. Shon Buford, president of San Francisco Fire Department Local 798, is urging city leaders to postpone the October 13 vaccination or completion deadline.
Twenty workers who did not disclose if they had received a shot within a previous period may receive unpaid 10-day suspensions. A firefighter has sued San Francisco, which was the first major city in the United States to adopt a vaccine warrant for its workers. The overwhelming majority of the city’s 36,000 workforce is vaccinated, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Buford, who is vaccinated, says he needs more time to educate his hesitant limbs and is disappointed that San Francisco has taken such a tough stance from the start. Firefighters like Salas have threatened to withdraw, and others say they will risk extinction.
“For me, they deserve more than an ultimatum,” Buford said.
In Los Angeles, more than 3,000 police department employees have been infected with the virus and the numbers continue to rise. Ten LAPD workers have died, as well as three spouses.
The Los Angeles Police Protection League, the union that represents grassroots officers, has proposed that weekly tests be conducted for police officers – such as the New York City Police Department – instead of the warrant signed by the Los Angeles Police Department. Mayor Eric Garcetti on August 20th. vaccines are part of the working conditions of city workers.
LAPD chief Michel Moore said 51% of the department had been vaccinated on Aug. 31 and more than 100 troops had been shot in the past week and a half.
In California state prisons, a federal judge could order the vaccination of all correctional employees and internal firefighters according to a class action lawsuit. By mid-July, 41% of correctional officers across the state had at least one dose of vaccine, compared to 75% of inmates.
Officials fear a repeat of last summer’s outbreak at San Quentin State Prison in northern San Francisco, which sickened 75 percent of the prison’s incarcerated population. Twenty-nine people, including a correctional officer, died.
“Every minute, every day, every week we fall behind, is increasingly putting our clients at risk,” said Rita Lomio, a staff lawyer for the nonprofit’s Penitentiary Legal Office, which represents people imprisoned in the United States. state in demand.
Philadelphia widow Octavia Tokley, 41, received her first dose just three days after her husband’s death, collapsing into the arms of a grieving stranger while waiting in line. Her daughter, 5-year-old Amethyst, constantly asks why her father didn’t get it either.
He tried, his mother says, but the shot was not yet ready for him.
Every night, her son struggles to fall asleep.
“I miss dad, I miss dad,” she cries. “I feel so alone, I miss Dad.”
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Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed.