NY Firefighters to Receive Vaccination, Police Officers to Wait

NEW YORK
Personal from the FDNY, NYPD, and Consolidated Edison emergency crews respond to a fire and explosion on West 55th Street, Oct. 22, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

A week after beginning to vaccinate EMTs and emergency medical response workers, New York City will begin inoculating FDNY members with the Moderna vaccine.

However, police officers will have to wait.

NY Daily News reported that Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo informed the union that their vaccinations would be delayed indefinitely, because the NYPD’s medical division had not yet received enough shots from the state.

“We’ve made numerous attempts to get updated information, and when we get further word on its availability, we will immediately keep our members appraised of the new date and the method of distribution,” DiGiacomo wrote.

He later told the Daily News, “I’m concerned about the rank of detectives and our members that are in emergency services…Every detective squad has been crushed with it…Within the last couple of weeks, we’ve had at least two detectives hospitalized.”

ABC7NY reported that a survey from November showed as many as half of the FDNY’s 11,000 firefighters were concerned about the vaccine and wanted more information.

In response, the Uniformed Firefighters Association urged their members to be vaccinated.

“Everybody understands first responders need access to it, we are advocating our members to get it,” said Andrew Ansbro, the union’s president.

He acknowledged, however, that the vaccine was ultimately a personal decision and the FDNY would not mandate it. Firefighters would likely be receiving their inoculations at a storage and distribution center on Randall’s Island.

“It’s their choice. We are looking to have this off-duty and not in the firehouse, we don’t want to contaminate our members in the firehouses,” said Ansbro.

As of Monday, December 28th, 140,000 New Yorkers have already received their first of two vaccination shots.

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