County requires shots for police, firefighters, with testing option
First responders must show proof of vaccination by Dec. 21
By Joseph Geha
jgeha@bayareanewsgroup.com
Hoping to continue curbing the spread of COVID-19, the Alameda County Department of Public Health has issued a new order requiring all first responders to be fully vaccinated against the virus by Dec. 21, or submit to weekly testing.
The order, issued Tuesday, applies to all police officers, firefighters, paramed-ics, emergency medical technicians and anyone whose work requires him to enter “high-risk health care facilities” such as hospitals, nursing facilities or those who are involved with both emergency and nonemergency medical transports in Alameda County. “Due to the nature of their professions, these workers are at high risk for spreading COVID-19 to patients in their care, to older and medically vulnerable residents, and to staff at these health care settings,”
the health department said in a written statement.
Any workers not fully vaccinated by the deadline must continue to wear masks “while in the presence of patients or residents andmust test for COVID-19 weekly,” the statement said.
“COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be safe and effective at preventing severe illness and death,” the county health department statement said. “While a fully vaccinated person may contract the virus that causes COVID-19, vaccinated persons are less likely to be infected and those who do test positive for COVID are infectious for a shorter time, reducing the chances that a vaccinated person will spread the virus to others,” it said. The order does not require a booster shot. A one-dose vaccination of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or a two-dose vaccination of the Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna vaccines is required to be completed by the deadline. Those who are not fully vaccinated must submit weekly proof of testing and continue to wear masks when interacting with the public.
The order also allows for exemptions from the mandate for those who can prove a “sincerely held religious belief or qualifying medical reason.”
For some agencies in Alameda County, the mandate will be a new policy to adhere to, and for others, it likely won’t change much.
In Oakland, for example, all city employees must report their vaccination status to the city by Monday and be fully vaccinated by Nov. 29.
For the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, testing of all unvaccinated employees already has been happening weekly for over a year, according to Sgt. Ray Kelly.
Currently, Kelly said, about 55% of Sheriff’s Office employees have reported themselves as fully vaccinated. The other 45% may include some people who are vaccinated but choose not to provide information of their vaccination status and continue to be tested weekly.
“The sheriff supports the vaccine, recommends the vaccine and has encouraged his staff to voluntarily take the vaccine, but he is also mindful and sensitive to some of the individuals who have vaccine hesitancy,” Kelly said of Sheriff Greg Ahern. “It’s a very contentious subject.
“There are certain people in the first responder group who just don’t feel they should be told they have to get the vaccine, and I know that’s controversial,” he said. Overall, he added, “The public sentiment and public comment is overwhelming; it’s very loud that they want their first responders vaccinated.”
A representative for the Alameda County Fire Department said Wednesday afternoon that the agency still was reviewing the health order and declined to comment on it.
The union for Alameda County Fire Department firefighters, IAFF Local 55, posted a letter earlier this year on its social media channels opposing strict vaccine mandates that impose termination. Union representatives could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
County health officials declined to answer in detail questions about how the rules of the order were established, including why leaders may have decided not to issue a stricter mandate.
Health department representative Neetu Balram said that while preparing the health order, the department discussed it “with various stakeholders, including all first responder agencies and cities.”
Balram said there is “no plan to amend or update the current order at this time” to be stricter, but he noted that any employers in the county can choose to impose stricter vaccine mandates that don’t allow for a testing and masking option.
Santa Clara County provides an example of how that might work: In San Jose, workers who did not obtain an approved exemption and were not fully vaccinated or in the process of becoming vaccinated at the end of a grace period in October were subject to being suspended for a week before returning to work with required twice-weekly testing.
A s of last week, 95% of San Jose employees overall, including 92% of police officers, reported being fully vaccinated.
Kelly said based on what the Sheriff’s Department has seen happen in other first responder agencies around the country, if stricter mandates are imposed, most employees likely will get vaccinated.
“When it comes down to the wire, and it comes down to you’re going to be terminated or lose your job as a result of this, pretty much all people take the vaccine,” he said.
