Race against time to use up vaccine
When a freezer breaks, a small- town hospital inoculates hundreds of people before the vials spoil.
How about an Airbnb gift card with your high- priority COVID- 19 vaccine? A home security system? A new bicycle? A free ride from Lyft?
Those are some of the prizes dangled by top brass at the Los Angeles Fire Department seeking to entice an unexpected group: f irefighters who are unwilling to get the shots.
Some L. A. f irefighters have joined the list of frontline workers in California who are declining to take the vaccine, a trend experts say could have serious implications for public health. Last week, The Times reported that up to 50% of healthcare workers in some regions are declining to be vaccinated, citing reasons that include concern over side effects and skepticism of the science.
Firefighters are on the front lines of the pandemic, with many working as paramedics and emergency medical technicians and regularly exposed to infected pa
tients. More than 670 city firefighters have tested positive for the coronavirus, a dozen have been hospitalized, and two have died — most recently Capt. George Roque, 57, a 22- year veteran.
To encourage vaccinations, LAFD Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas and leaders of the f irefighter unions took the doses in a videotaped event that will be distributed this week. It’s “painless, fast,” Terrazas said. “I feel f ine. Other than that little tenderness, I don’t feel any different.”
And for added encouragement, there are the prizes. Vaccinated f irefighters get entered into a raff le to win Canary home security cameras, Google Nest entertainment systems, Aventon f ixed- gear bicycles and gift cards for Airbnb and Lyft, according to a memo Terrazas distributed last week.
The gifts are funded by the nonprofit LAFD Foundation, which raises money to support the department, according to the memo.
The inf luence campaign and incentives are needed because turnout thus far is far from universal, even though firefighters were the f irst city workers to get access to the vaccine. Only 1,000 out of 3,400 were vaccinated the first week, according to the chief.
“The Fire Department is a ref lection of society,” he said. “There are some people who are reluctant because of fear of the unknown.”
The vaccine doubt persists despite clear scientific evidence of safety and efficacy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health experts. Trials involving tens of thousands of participants were conducted before the shots were approved for broader use, and a vaccine is now recommended for most adults.
Firefighters are among the most at risk of infection. In their work responding to 911 calls, they are routinely in contact with sick patients. Regardless of whether they are vaccinated, they are required to wear protective equipment on the job.
There are signs that the doubts are widespread. More than 50% of New York City f irefighters said they wouldn’t take the vaccine, according to an internal poll by a union for firefighters.
It is not known how widespread that sentiment is in Los Angeles, but officials say they are hearing from skeptics in the LAFD ranks. Some say they don’t feel comfortable being among the first to take the vaccine; others say they have already been infected, so they don’t feel they need the vaccine.
“There are generational mind- sets. The mind- set of a mid- 20- year- old is different from the mind- set of a mid- 50- year- old,” said Frank Lima, an LAFD captain and former president of the union representing rank- and- file firefighters.
During a recent shift at a station in Hollywood, when f irefighters were encouraged to drive downtown to get vaccinated, only four of the 10 on duty got the shot, himself included, Lima said.
He encouraged all union members to get vaccinated but said he believes they deserve to decide for themselves. “While we will f ight tooth and nail to give them every opportunity,” Lima said, “we respect their right to make that decision.”
Terrazas said he has made personal appeals.
“I was talking to a f iref ighter yesterday, and I asked him what his reluctance is. He said he wanted to see if there were any side effects,” Terrazas said. “I sent him a link to the CDC website. I think he will see that the data shows that it’s extremely rare to have a side effect.”
Terrazas said he would be watching closely in the coming weeks, and if participation is low, he will consider making the shot mandatory after the vaccine receives authorization from federal regulators for broader use.
“I would rather have voluntary compliance,” he said. “At the end of the day, there is the possibility of a mandate.”