FDNY firefighters began receiving coronavirus vaccines on Tuesday – but a planned launch of the shots for the NYPD was canceled, with a union memo citing a delay in the state’s demise.
“I did 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 shoot at the FDNY headquarters in downtown Brooklyn.
“I just think it’s important to take care of as many people as we can.”
Between three locations – the HQ of the department plus the fire academy on Randall Island and the EMS academy in Fort Totten, Queens – the FDNY can now inoculate about 450 members a day.
That count includes EMS workers, who started receiving the vaccine last week.
The launch unfolded in the face of a survey conducted earlier this month by the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which indicated that more than half of the smoke eaters 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 among those who received the vaccine on Tuesday.
“Hopefully, this will go a long way in getting the city and the country back on track,” he said.
Ansbro praised the recent efforts of the department and the union to dissuade firefighters’ fears through information and was cautiously optimistic that they appear to be working.
“The union asked questions and answers with a virologist and we answered all the questions that our members sent us. About two dozen members contacted me saying that the work we did changed their minds, ”he said.
“At the moment, it looks like several thousand members have signed up to get this and that is very encouraging.”
The FDNY said on Tuesday that more than 1,000 EMS employees in the city have already been vaccinated.
There are approximately 4,400 FDNY EMS workers and 11,000 firefighters.
But as long as the Bravests lined up, the Best were kept waiting.
A memo circulated on Monday within the Detectives’ Endowment Association said a planned launch for police officers on Tuesday was on hold due to supply problems with the state.
“The state has not released the vaccine in the quantity needed by the NYPD,” says the memo in part.
New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea confirmed the delay during a large meeting on Tuesday morning, noting that the department is “looking forward” to its jabs.
Union leaders criticized the government bureaucracy for being late.
“The lives of the policemen and New Yorkers we serve are being placed in grave danger by the delay in the COVID-19 vaccine available to the NYPD,” said DEA President Paul DiGiacomo in a statement.
“Detectives have thousands of close contact interactions daily with the public as we continue to keep people safe, provide medical assistance and respond to requests for help,” he continued. “After the death of six detectives and the current increase in the number of viruses, DEA members need the vaccine before another family is tragically left behind – and they need it now.”
Forty-eight members of the NYPD died of coronavirus, according to the department.
The head of the Benevolent Police Association, Patrick Lynch, agreed with DiGiacomo.
“Once again, politicians in Albany and City Hall are wasting time on bureaucratic gymnastics instead of looking at the local reality,” he said in a statement. “New York police are not just on the front lines. We cover all parts of the front line: from hospitals and residential complexes to the corner store.
“We have more daily contact with New Yorkers than any other agency in the city,” continued Lynch. “We continue to push for vaccines to be made available to police as soon as possible.”
A spokesman for the state Department of Health said that vaccines are on the way for police officers, but that groups prioritized before them – including frontline health workers and those in nursing homes – are still being vaccinated.
“NYPD as first respondents are eligible in phase 1b, that has not changed, and any suggestion that we are withholding vaccine supplies is patently false,” said Gary Holmes. “We are still in the middle of phase 1a, which includes frontline health professionals, nursing homes and some congregational care locations.
“The timing depends on when the vaccine supply is available and we look forward to working with the NYPD and all the first respondents to operationalize the 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 said earlier this month that vaccines would not be mandatory for NYPD personnel, but then opened the door for them to become potentially mandatory.