New York fire brigade ‘sick’ from compulsory vaccination: 26 barracks closed | Abroad

The fire brigade is struggling with staff shortages, because firefighters who do not want to vaccinate themselves will no longer be allowed to work from Monday. All government employees in the city must have had at least one corona jab. Many firefighters do not want that, for example because they already claim to have natural immunity after a previous infection. An estimated 4,000 firefighters are not vaccinated. Government employees who have not had at least one shot on Monday will be suspended and will not be paid. In protest, many firefighters stayed ‘sick’ at home over the weekend.

District representatives blame Mayor Bill de Blasio for the shutdown. With his decision to make corona shots mandatory, De Blasio is exceeding his mandate, according to Brooklyn district chair Nicole Malliotakis. Five barracks are closed in her district. “If the resulting slower arrival time of our fire trucks leads to a catastrophe, that is entirely the responsibility of the mayor,” she says.

Irresponsible

According to fire chief Daniel A. Nigro, the fire departments have not closed the stations: “The danger to New Yorkers has come from irresponsible firefighters who called in sick for no good reason.” Sources tell the New York Post that hundreds of firefighters stopped working over the weekend in protest. Nigro threatens ‘consequences’ if they don’t go back to work.

The closure of the barracks seems short-lived. People are being hired to fill in the blanks, and the Long Island Volunteer Fire Department has been called in for manpower. It is also not the case that New York is now completely without sprayers. The city has 341 barracks.

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