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Police, firefighters, paramedics and ocean security personnel make up 51% of city workers citing their health or religious faith as the reason they will test for COVID-19 weekly rather than complying with the mandate of city vaccination – reflecting a national trend of first responders.
There are no vaccination statistics for all U.S. first responders, according to an Associated Press review this month, but police and firefighters are reporting numbers well below the national vaccination rate of 74% of adults who have received at least one dose. .
In Honolulu on Tuesday, 255 police officers, 101 firefighters, 80 water safety officers and 23 emergency medical technicians and mobile emergency care specialists claimed religion or a medical issue was preventing them from accepting a COVID-19 vaccine. , according to the city department. Human ressources.
These 459 workers represent about 12.9% of Oahu’s 3,551 first responders. Except in exceptional circumstances, requests for exemption will be honored.
About 78% of police officers, 86% of firefighters and 71% percent of rescuers and paramedics are vaccinated, according to the city.
The city is the only government employer in Hawaii that does not allow weekly testing for workers who refuse to be vaccinated and who are not also exempt for religious or medical reasons.
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, said it’s because infection and death data revealed that a warrant is the best way to protect people and to prevent the spread of the delta variant.
Honolulu accounts for 76% of the 653 deaths from COVID-19 in the state, and those 500 deaths include two city employees.
“We chose to take this position (vaccine mandate) because we have more than 10,000 employees and our first obligation is to them, to create a safe working environment for them and their families,” said Blangiardi. “We know it was within our right to install a vaccination warrant and we knew that in order to do so, we had to provide for a medical or religious exemption. In addition to protecting our employees, we are committed to alleviating the pressure on our hospitals, on our intensive care, out of respect for hospital staff.
After receiving an exemption, municipal workers can continue their duties while undergoing a COVID-19 test on a weekly basis.
While testing per week may not guarantee that an employee does not contract the virus during the week, the city said its testing plan was “being implemented with the guidance of medical professionals and public health”.
“A weekly test does not replace vaccination, it is an accommodation offered to people who have a medical / religious reason not to be vaccinated”, according to a statement from the city in response to questions from Star-Advertiser about the mandate vaccination. “The state has a similar weekly testing program for unvaccinated workers. The federal government recently announced a policy requiring vaccination or weekly testing for private companies as well. “
The ONLINE attestation form for City employees requires them to log in and complete the form to fill out. To request an exemption, workers must enter an “X” in box C if they have submitted a request for a religious or medical exemption. As long as the request is pending and approved, the employee will undergo weekly testing.
The Human Resources Department is reviewing requests for religious and medical exemptions to ensure a legitimate request has been made, the statement said. “Acts of misconduct by an employee will be dealt with in accordance with applicable city policies. “
Employees must complete a waiver request form and submit it to a departmental coordinator to initiate the review process, according to the mandate guidelines.
“Applications will be considered and accepted if they do not cause undue hardship to the city and county of Honolulu or pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others,” the policy said.
On Tuesday, 890 city workers asked to be exempted from the warrant, and two police officers from Honolulu are the only first responders threatened with dismissal for refusing to comply with the warrant.
One of them is the cape. Mark Kutsy, a Marine Corps veteran who worked for HPD for 24 years. Kutsy received a termination notice and was suspended without pay after refusing the vaccine and failing to request a waiver.
He’s willing to undergo weekly testing, but that’s not an option for municipal workers without an exemption.
“The majority of our Honolulu police officers are vaccinated or have requested an exemption. Those who have not chosen any option, SHOPO will do its best to help them, ”said Malcolm Lutu, president of the Hawaii State Police Officers Organization, in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.
The 101 firefighters whose religious beliefs or medical conditions prevent them from accepting a vaccine have so far not needed help from the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Local 1463.
“No one has been threatened or faced negative repercussions for choosing an exemption,” said HFFA President Bobby Lee.
United Public Workers, the union representing municipal emergency medical workers, declined to comment.
First responders participating in a lawsuit to end the term, as well as union officials and city lawmakers, said Honolulu should align its policy with those established by the state, counties of Maui, Kauai and Hawaii, which allow unvaccinated workers to stay on the job. if they undergo regular testing and follow safety protocols.
Randy Perreira, executive director of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, said the union, through a grievance process, is working on behalf of members employed by the City and County of Honolulu to create an option to test for those who refuse the vaccine but will not apply. for an exemption.
“They (Honolulu) are the only state jurisdiction that has not authorized a testing option. From the start we have encouraged everyone to get vaccinated, but we understand that there may be reasons and some may not be willing and able, ”said Perreira. “This is a community-wide crisis and it is a community-wide problem. For all of us, every eligible citizen should be vaccinated or should be tested regularly to be sure we are locking up the virus and not contributing to the spread. “
President Joe Biden last week ordered vaccinations for executive employees and contractors who do business with the federal government, without the ability to test. The president’s mandate on vaccines further requires that employers with more than 100 workers require weekly vaccinations or tests.
Workers in healthcare facilities who receive federal Medicare or Medicaid will also need to be fully immunized.
Honolulu City Council members Heidi Tsuneyoshi and Augie Tulba, chair and vice-chair of the council’s public safety committee, said anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated should not be subject to action disciplinary and should be given the opportunity to undergo tests in order to keep his job.
“I believe in letting people decide for themselves whether they should be vaccinated against COVID-19. Our first responders have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and continue to take the necessary precautions to perform their professional duties, while maintaining good health. I think they will work safely regardless of their vaccination status, ”Tulba said in a statement to the Star-Advertiser.
“As we all know that a person can still be infected even after being vaccinated, I am in favor of city workers and first responders having the option of being fully vaccinated or showing proof of a weekly negative COVID test. “
Tulba said the city’s decision to serve HPD Kutsy with termination papers “saddened” him.
“We are already struggling to recruit police officers, and I am saddened to hear of ongoing layoffs when we have not exhausted other options, such as weekly testing,” he said.
Tsuneyoshi, who challenged Blangiardi in a recent public hearing on the city’s response to COVID-19 to be more open-minded towards those who chose not to accept the vaccine, said every employee at the city should have the choice of taking regular, free COVID-19. tests if they choose not to be vaccinated.
“Our first responders have been on the front lines from day one. They do their jobs in the most appropriate and safe way possible. We should look to them for advice on how to maintain a safe working environment, ”Tsuneyoshi told the Star-Advertiser. “I really hope the mayor will take this into consideration… listen to them and give them the opportunity to create a way forward to maintain their integrity and safe working environment.”
In an affidavit filed in support of a federal lawsuit against the state and city mandate, Keith Daniel, an 18-year veteran of the Honolulu Fire Department, said he did not didn’t understand why Honolulu is the only county in Hawaii that doesn’t allow it. employees to perform tests instead of vaccination.
“The neighboring islands were given a test warrant rather than a vaccine warrant. Mayor Blangiardi, however, was now forcing us to provide a religious or medical exemption and have it approved or potentially denied, which would leave us with almost immediate termination. And who will judge the value of my faith? Someone from the human resources department? It is an abomination against my guaranteed religious freedom in this great nation and an invasive intrusion into my sacred personal relationship with God, ”Daniel said in the statement.
Theresa McGregor, an 18-year veteran of the Emergency Services Department, where she works as a mobile emergency care specialist, echoed Daniel’s statement in her own statement filed in federal court.
“I have transported patients vaccinated against COVID-19 to the hospital. I have transported patients who have had an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine to the hospital. I have transported unvaccinated COVID-19 positive patients to hospital. Seeing adverse reactions to the vaccine contributed to my hesitation about the vaccine… ”she wrote in her statement, filed on August 27.
Jeffrey Harris, a lawyer who deals with labor matters at Torkildson, Katz, Hetherington, Harris & Knorek, said he supports Honolulu’s tenure, which he considers perfectly legal.
The mandate could have been stricter, as the city “has no constitutional obligation to offer a religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination mandate,” Harris told the Star-Advertiser. He cited a legal precedent which determined that “the right to freely practice one’s religion does not include the freedom to expose the community or the child to a communicable disease or the latter to ill health or death”.
“Neither the state nor the counties are constitutionally required to offer religious exemptions,” Harris said. “It has been the law for at least 100 years.
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