The head of the New York City firefighters union told his members on Wednesday to keep working despite COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Andrew Ansbro, FDNY Firefighters Association president, told the ''Brian Kilmeade Show'' that ''right now, 45% of New York firefighters are unvaccinated.'' Ansbro thinks that Mayor Bill de Blasio's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for state workers will lead to ''30% to 40% of firehouses'' being closed down.
The mayor has scheduled a deadline for all city employees to get a vaccination on Friday by 5 p.m. or risk being sent home without pay.
Ansbro warned that come Friday, city officials ''are going to be faced with the stark reality that they're going to have to close firehouses down. And there is no other way to do it. ... The manpower, the staffing just is not there. And the response times are going to go through the roof.
''We're just not going to be able to get to emergencies on time. Fires are going to burn longer. Heart attack victims are going be lying on the floor longer. People stuck in elevators are going to be stuck there for hours, if not days.''
Ansbro added that the vaccinations are unfair, especially in light of the lack of support that firefighters with cancer have received following Sept. 11.
''Right now, the FDNY is losing two to three firefighters, dying every month, due to 9/11-related cancer, and they're doing nothing about it. There's a mandate from the state ... that every New York City employee gets four hours off in order to get a cancer screening. ... The FDNY has refused to give firefighters'' that time off to get a cancer screening Ansbro added.
''But now they want to force a mandate'' that firefighters don't need because they have already been sick.
Ansbro concluded that the COVID-19 vaccine mandate being issued to New York City employees is ''immoral.''
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