How about an Airbnb gift card with your high priority COVID-19 vaccine?
Or a home security system? A new bike? Or a free ride from Lyft?
These are some of the awards hanged by the senior ranks of the Los Angeles Fire Department who seek to attract an unexpected group: firefighters who do not want to shoot.
LA firefighters’ reluctance adds to the list of frontline workers in the state who are refusing to get the vaccine, a trend that health experts say may have serious public health implications. Last week, The Times reported that up to 50% of healthcare professionals in some regions are refusing to be vaccinated, citing a variety of reasons that include concern about the side effects and skepticism of science.
Firefighters are at the forefront of the pandemic, with many working as paramedics and emergency medical technicians regularly exposed to infected patients. More than 670 city firefighters have tested positive so far, a dozen have been hospitalized and two have died, most recently Captain George Roque, 57, a 22-year-old veteran.
To encourage vaccination, fire chief Ralph M. Terrazas and fire union leaders took the shots at a video-recorded event that will be distributed this week. It’s “painless, fast,” he said. “I feel good. Besides that little tenderness, I don’t feel any different.”
And for added encouragement, there are prizes. Vaccinated firefighters participate in a drawing in which gifts include Canary home security cameras, Google Nest entertainment systems, Aventon fixed gear bikes and gift cards for Airbnb and Lyft, according to a memo distributed by Terrazas last week.
The gifts will be funded by the LAFD Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises money to support the department, according to the memo.
The influence campaign and incentives are necessary because participation so far is far from universal, although firefighters were the first city employees to have access to the vaccine. Only 1,000 out of 3,400 were vaccinated in the first week, according to the chief.
“The Fire Department is a reflection of society,” said Terrazas. “There are some people who are reluctant because of the fear of the unknown.”
The doubt about the vaccine persists despite clear scientific evidence about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, according to experts and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tests involving tens of thousands of participants were conducted before the vaccines were approved for wider use, and a vaccine is now recommended for most adults.
Firefighters are among those most at risk of infection. As part of their job of answering 911 calls and delivering patients to emergency rooms, they are routinely in contact with sick patients. Regardless of being shot, they are required to wear protective equipment at work.
There are indications that doubts are widespread in the fire department. More than 50% of New York firefighters said they would not get the vaccine, according to an internal survey by a fire department.
How widespread this feeling is here in Los Angeles is not fully known, but senior officials say they are seeing and hearing skeptics in their ranks. Some firefighters say they are not comfortable being among the first to get the vaccine. Others say they have already been infected, so they don’t feel they need the vaccine.
“There are generational mentalities. The mindset of a 20-year-old is different from that of a 50-year-old, ”said Frank Lima, LAFD captain and former president of the union that represents ordinary firefighters.
During a recent shift at a police station in Hollywood, on a day when firefighters were encouraged to head downtown to get vaccinated, only four of the ten on-duty workers were shot, including him, Lima said.
He encouraged all union members to shoot, but said he believed the firefighters deserve to decide for themselves. “While we are going to fight tooth and nail to give them every opportunity,” said Lima. “We respect their right to make that decision.”
Terrazas said he made personal calls for firefighters to be vaccinated.
“I was talking to a fireman yesterday and asked what his reluctance is. He said he wanted to see if there were any side effects, ”said Terrazas. “I sent him a link to the CDC website. I think he will see that the data show that it is extremely rare to have a side effect ”.
Terrazas said he will be watching those numbers closely in the coming weeks. If participation is low, the chief said he would consider vaccination mandatory after the vaccine received authorization for wider use from federal regulators.
“I prefer to have voluntary compliance,” said Terrazas. “Ultimately, there is the possibility of a mandate.”