For now, the COVID-19 vaccines are voluntary, but that eventually could change for first responders, according to Mobile Public Safety Director James Barber.
Barber stressed that no decisions have been made and likely would not for some time. But in a recent interview with FOX10 News, he raised the possibility. He noted that police and fire-rescue workers come in frequent close contact with the public.
“Which outweighs? You know, the right of the officer to decline the vaccination or the paramedics to decline the vaccination, versus the right of a patient not to be exposed to somebody who could potentially be carrying the virus?” he said. “So, it’s a big question – not something that we have to deal with right now.”
Currently, vaccine supply remains so much below demand that officials say it would be counterproductive to try to force employees to get vaccinated.
But participation among first responders, who have been eligible since the vaccines first came out late last year, has lagged well behind what experts contend is necessary for “herd immunity.”