The United States, the global “front runner” in COVID mortality statistics, just passed the 750,000 number of dead… and rising. Yet for those eligible but remaining unvaccinated, it’s as politicized as ever. In a period where high demand for their services is amplified by staffing shortage, threats from hospital workers to quit if vaccine mandates are forced upon them… either by government decree or private employer mandate… paint an abysmal picture of nightmarish medical chaos. A significant number of police and firefighters, many embracing the anti-vaccine test of conservative loyalty, are refusing to get those required vaccinations. Some of their conservative bosses are simply refusing to take action against those refuseniks, effectively making those vaccine mandates unenforceable.
Again, those anti-vax uniformed officers are letting state and municipal governments know that their absence will result in more serious crime and a much slower response time to fire alarms. More than a few private employers are facing unvaccinated workers who threaten to quit, in a job market that is increasingly difficult for employers. For those under a federal mandate (federal and federal-vendor workers), the complexity of the “constant testing” alternative is proving unworkable. Oh, and the demand for “personal belief/religious exemptions,” where permitted are going through the roof. What’s the reality out there?
Resistance and non-compliance are so pervasive that the Biden administration has extended enforcement of its national private employer/federal vendor vaccine-or-testing mandate to January 4th, past the busy holiday season, where worker shortages are already reaching critical stages. “Employers will also not be required to provide or pay for tests and the rule offers medical and religious exemptions… Failure to comply with the mandate will result in an approximately $14,000 fine per violation with a scale that increases with several violations, senior administration officials said. They did not offer clarity on whether workers will be fired if they refuse to get the shot or tested.” Reuters, November 4th? What about local mandates?
“Many government workers who have defied New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate won’t be fired and will even keep being paid, for now, if they have applied for a religious exemption under a labor deal announced Thursday [11/5]. About 9,000 city workers went on unpaid leave when the mandate took effect Monday [11/1]… Thursday’s agreement does not cover the police or fire departments. Thousands of police officers have declined the vaccine, but most of those have applied for a religious exemption and are continuing to work. Only a few dozen have been suspended, according to the police commissioner. More than 2,000 firefighters requested sick leave when the mandate took effect, about twice the normal number.” Associated Press, November 5th.
Writing for the Coronavirus Today supplement to the November 2nd Los Angeles Times, Karen Kaplan reports that based on their surveys, at least in California: “Thousands of people who’ve been told they must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs have sworn they will quit before they roll up their sleeves — only to acquiesce as the deadline draws near.”
In Los Angeles County, “[A]mong unvaccinated workers, only 17% said they would likely get the vaccine if their employer required it without offering testing as an alternative, according to the [Kaiser Family Foundation] surveys. The majority — 72% — said they would leave their jobs… Still, the KFF surveys found that only 5% of unvaccinated adults had actually left a job because of vaccination requirements. United Airlines [a federal vendor], for instance, announced in September that more than 99% of its workforce had either gotten vaccinated or sought exemptions to its requirement.” Los Angeles Times, November 3rd. But that willingness to surrender to the mandate response has hardly been uniform.
Although New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reported that on November 1st, the date New York vaccine mandates kicked in, that there were no material interruptions of service, the numbers suggest otherwise: “About 9,000 New York City municipal workers were put on unpaid leave for refusing to comply with a Covid-19 vaccine mandate that took effect on Monday [11/1], Mayor Bill de Blasio said, adding that thousands of firefighters had called out sick in apparent protest.
“Firehouses remained open but 18 [updated to 26] of 350 units were out of service [above picture] and ‘many units are understaffed’, Daniel Nigro, the fire commissioner, said… Officials have been battling fierce resistance among a minority of workers in some critical public safety jobs, including police officers and firefighters, with a pending legal challenge to the mandate from the largest police union… As of Sunday [10/31], one in four of uniformed New York firefighters had not had a first dose of the vaccine, as required. About one in six police personnel and one in six sanitation workers were still unvaccinated.” Guardian UK, November 1st. De Blasio labeled union and union workers suing to stop the vaccine mandates, efforts which have been generally unsuccessful, “unpatriotic,” an effort to reverse the right-wing mantra that vaccine mandates are both unconstitutional (the Supreme Court ruled over a century ago that they are not) and un-American.
In red states, there has often been a refusal by local law enforcement, sometimes following dictates from GOP mayors and governors, denying the use of their uniformed officers to enforce these vaccine mandates. Even in blue cities, conservative law enforcement officials, like Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, resist that vaccine mandate on several levels. Villanueva has stated that he will not enforce such mandates, regardless of state and local laws to the contrary, and he will not even force his officers to be vaccinated.
“On Monday [11/1], Villanueva appeared on Fox News, telling host Tucker Carlson that the mandate is causing deputies to leave the department, and that in turn homicides will climb and response times will increase… ‘Your priorities are so exactly in the right place,’ said Carlson, who is known for his strong conservative leanings and inflammatory commentary. He later added, ‘Man, why didn’t you run for governor?’
“In a statement Tuesday [11/2], Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn called on Villanueva to enforce the mandate… ‘The No. 1 killer of law enforcement officers nationwide this past year has been COVID,’ Hahn said. ‘Instead of implementing L.A. County’s vaccine mandate (like every other county department has done successfully), he is putting both his deputies and the public they come face-to-face with every day at unnecessary risk. What we need from the sheriff right now is leadership, for once.’…
“As of [the end of October,] 1,843 Sheriff’s Department employees were seeking a medical or religious exemption to the vaccine and 2,327 were not vaccinated. An additional 3,444 sheriff’s employees had not reported their vaccination status, a county spokesperson said… Villanueva’s recalcitrance in the face of the mandate stood in sharp contrast to the position staked out by LAPD Chief Moore.
“Moore, who is not elected like Villanueva but appointed by city leaders, has for months said he would follow vaccination rules put in place by the city after negotiations with the police union and other collective bargaining units… On Tuesday [11/2], he told the civilian Police Commission that the LAPD was gearing up to begin enforcing the city’s rules even if it meant sidelining hundreds of officers, including by creating contingency plans for backfilling critical patrol and other shifts.” Los Angeles Times, November 3rd.
Ah, those requests for religious/personal belief exemptions. Most such requests are manufactured and uncredible, and there is a significant legal question whether the First Amendment requires that such exemptions be offered at all. In the 1990 Supreme Court decision in Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon vs Smith, as reported by Oyez.org, “Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, observed that the Court has never held that an individual's religious beliefs excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that government is free to regulate.
“Allowing exceptions to every state law or regulation affecting religion ‘would open the prospect of constitutionally required exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind.’ Scalia cited as examples compulsory military service, payment of taxes, vaccination requirements, and child-neglect laws.” Further, on October 29th, the Supreme Court (6 to 3) refused a petition from healthcare workers for an emergency order to block a Maine vaccine mandate that did not contain a religious exemption.
While many of the “definitely not” vaccine resisters have come around when it comes to preserving their livelihoods, those who are still willing to face suspension or discharge either have dug in their heels or fallen back on that religious exemption loophole where it is offered. How far private and governmental entities are willing to go for those seeking a religious exemption where it is offered has had mixed results. United Airlines prevailed in its rejection of a majority of such requests just as Tucson, Arizona administrators accepted half the applications.
No major religious group has stated that vaccines violate their beliefs, and most applications – some based on forms supplied by right-wing evangelists – are more personal in nature. In regions desiring to support vaccination mandates, those “personal belief” applications are generally rejected. And that category appears to be the majority of such applications. “For many skeptics, resistance tends to be based not on formal teachings from an established faith leader, but an ad hoc blend of online conspiracies and misinformation, conservative media and conversations with like-minded friends and family members.” New York Times, September 21st.
With the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine for children 5 to 11, it will be interesting to see how many parents refuse to vaccinate among the 28 million children who just became eligible for the shot. If some parents are willing to walk away from a solid job to avoid the vaccination, will they also be willing to place their young children in COVID’s harm’s way? But if those children are vaccinated in large numbers, could we reach herd immunity? Why is common sense so hard to learn? It may be disturbing to many in the general public that as COVID variants mix with individual susceptibility, that there are many in jobs that constantly interface lots of people who believe their perceived right not to be vaccinated trumps individual rights not to be exposed to a life-threatening disease.
I’m Peter Dekom, and the problem is compounded where those resisters are government workers over whom the general public has no control but are forced to deal with.
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