Mayor Issues Vax-Or-Test Mandate

Weak Vax Numbers, NHPD! Get your macho BS together!!!!!

Weekly testing is not good enough for Public Servants who have such close contact with the community in 'daily situations'.

C'mon Cops -- Get Shot!!!!!
Maybe if we called it 'an injection' it wouldn't be construed as a conflict of job interests!!!!

So your going to mandate a vaccine to city employees..including Union members without ever consulting with any Unions?

Your trying to mandate employees to take a vaccine that is not designed to prevent infection, nor transmission? And if they choose not to they are required to get tested weekly? How does that make sense

What about the vaccinated employees that can OBVIOUSLY still be infected and transmit covid? Will THEY have to BE TESTED WEEKLY AS WELL? if not, how could you not? Common sense would lead you to believe that if someone can stil get a virus and infect someone even though they are vaccinated, they still pose the same amount of threat.

It's highly dangerous when people start to give up their freedom of choice in exchange for a lie and a false sense of security.

Stamford police has respond to their mayor with a big negative and CHICAGO is doing the same thing with their Union. You will not threaten the people who keep your city safe with discipline for not complying with this asinine policy.

Let's see what the municipal unions do.

This is a very reasonable policy- vaccinate fully or get regular testing. No medical or religious exemption needed. Just vax or test.
And wear your mask properly over your nose and mouth.
For city employees who have concerns about the vaccines, this is a very simple mandate to keep people safe, and doesn't require you to explain your reasons why you don't want to get vaccinated, so it protects your privacy and gives you a reasonable choice to protect yourself, protect your coworkers, and protect the general public who you may have contact with.

Again, CoViD-19 is far and away the biggest killer of cops. The union should be supporting this measure to keep cops alive and healthy rather than fighting it.
www.odmp.org

Let's see if I understand this. 30% or 17 of the 58 that were hospitalized were vaccinated. Now we are given that scientific term "most" (anywhere from 51% to 97%) were
immunocompromised or recently traveled to areas with especially high rates of transmission. We are not told if "most" of the 41 unvaccinated were immunocompromised or recently traveled to areas with especially high rates of transmission. So, perhaps we can say this. It appears that getting vaccinated is going to help protect you, but there is a "good" (a scientific term meaning less than 35%) chance that if you come into contact with the Covid virus you'll get sick. Get vaccinated! It really makes sense.

You know, I could really give an eff less about what the Police Union thinks....

Unlike most City Hall Departments where the customer comes to YOU,
the Police are coming to the 'customer'. It's a big difference.

Just bad news all around, and a genuine threat to public health, for the Officers and the Public they serve!!!!

This is reasonable and as public safety officers, police should welcome the safety and welfare of our citizens. Our officers come in contact with all types of people and this is for their protection and their loved ones. Mayor Elicker is a compassionate pragmatist and a welcome change for our city. I respect Cannon and Cotto and believe they will come around.

Many agencies in other states offer incentives to get the vax. Why not New Haven?

In a state out west there is an agency that offers a marijuana cigarette as an incentive to get the vax. (Just think- to protect your lungs from filling up with all sorts of goodies while on a ventilator, they're going to give you something to inhale as a treat, instead!)
How about giving each cop a donut when they get the vax? Or a $50 voucher to be used at a New Haven-based tattoo parlor?

I fully support this. It's time to get proactive. Those with their heads in the sand please pull them out and do your civic duty.

A Question: If vaccinated under order, will the employees be covered under Comp if they become ill at some future date due to the vaccine? I am in favor of the vaccine for every cop who has to deal with the public daily; patrol officers. Compared to the initial efforts by the government to test cops weekly, for the safety of loved ones they might inadvertently bring the virus home to, by way of the forced social contacts the job demands ( you cannot tell people you will not speak with them for fear of the virus, this was precedent from the time of the drug addicts having the AIDS virus.) . The anti-vaccine movement is the result of the beliefs that children getting vaccines resulted in autism, something that was proven false, but perpetuated by false statements on social networks. The insanity of this is the risks the cops take daily, those on the front lines, those that deal with the public every day, are accepted as "part of the job". All the training in the world does not stop those hell bent on shooting and killing cops. Very much like this virus, an officer who does get shot rarely "sees it coming". That is how they get shot.

C'mon Ummwhat. A vaccine that is 95% effective definitely prevents infection. And it would be a shame (and politically unwise) for unions to obstruct public health.

THere is a third choice-- quit the job if you don't wish to comply. Perhaps there should be spot testing for COVID offered as well while the pandemic is still on? This could apply to anyone who wishes one and does not have to be mandated. I would still like to know if I ever had COVID and have antibodies; though that may be moot now the I have been vaccinated. Not sure about that.

I do not support any more govt intrusion but I also don't support spreading and dying from COVID. I made my choice to get the vaxes. You make yours.

I agree with Bill that the policy is not sufficiently rigorous. Employees who regularly come in contact with the public, including police officers, should be required to be vaccinated barring medical contraindications. And such employees who do not comply with the vaccination/test requirement should be given a written warning and ultimately terminated if they do not comply.

Adults have the right to make decisions that only affect their own health or well-being. They do not have the right to jeopardize the health of others. If you want to smoke in your home, that's your decision. But you can't smoke in indoor public spaces.

Great photo at the top of this article.

I can't say that I know any percentages of the total staff over at NHPD that are vaxed. However I can tell you that only about 5%, and that may be generous, wear masks when in common areas and moving about the building. Per the mayor and Heath dept, the bosses are supposed to "lead by example " in mask wearing, etc, but I can tell your for a fact that they don't. Most of the employees (sworn and non) do not wear any type of face covering what so ever. Getting vaccinated helps to minimize symptoms IF you contract covid, not make you invincible to it. Unfortunately, people think they don't need to wear a mask in the building, vaxed or not. It's one thing to be inconsiderate about your own health in your own space, but when a lot of these folks in that building are vacationing and going places unmasked and/or unvaxed and then they come and share close space with others it's a different story. In my opinion it's completely just about selfishness. The problem with the mayors mandate is there will be absolutely no check and balances. It's just for show, the people that refuse to get vaxed and refuse to test will not be held accountable for it. The mayor is out of touch, he has no idea what goes on in the building, and the bosses don't want to do it so they won't hold the officers to it either.

@Heritage

Unfortunately, the vaccine is about 60% effective. Still worth getting, however.

So if the vaccinated are still contracting and spreading covid why would they not be getting tested as well?

Thank you Mayor Elicker for standing up to stupidity - it's a real killer.

Thank you Mayor Elicker for doing your job - enacting a public health measure that saves lives.

The latest serious and mostly deadly disease in the U.S. is dying from COVID by refusing to get vaccinated.

As an American citizen you do not have a right to refuse a vaccine for a deadly illness that could kill others.

The U.S. Constitution says we have the right to LIFE, LIBERTY and the Pursuit of HAPPINESS
and you, dear stupid person do not have the right to threaten others should you refuse the vaccine that we know kills people.

Vaccine mandates are not new. Vaccine mandates are not new. Vaccine mandates are not new.

Here are some mandated vaccines your kids need to go to public school.

Big deal!

Hep B:
DT aP:
Polio:
MMR: Varicella:
Hepatitis A: Hib: Pneumococcal: Influenza:

And, for students who are new to the New Haven system CT State Law says:

*New entrants are any students who are new to the school district, including all preschoolers and all students coming in from Connecticut private, parochial and charter schools located in the same or another community.

All pre-schoolers, as well as all students entering kindergarten, including those repeating kindergarten, and those moving from any public or private pre-school program, even in the same school district, are considered new entrants.

The one exception is students returning from private approved special education placements–they are not considered new entrants.

The pandemic is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

Like any vaccine in some cases there can be a mild case of the flu...that's true of the regular flu as well.

Big deal!

It is really sad to see people like this union leader buying into some gobble gook for reasons other than the protection of his members, their families and all of us.

We all had to get the polio vaccine and we did not have the option to get "tested".

Everyone knows that vaccines work, so get it.

Any City employee who refuses the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccination should be "outed".

Not getting the vaccine is not a personal bit of information. It is a public health policy just as it is known that almost every kid who goes to public school in New Haven if she attends school, then we can assume she is vaccinated.

People in the workplace should know who their co-workers are who refuse to get vaccinated.

Again, this is not a PERSONAL issue.

Getting an abortion, however, is a personal health issue as are many other conditions.

However being able to walk around without being vaccinated from COVID is the same as walking around with a loaded gun.

Let's make it illegal or make people who refuse, for no reason, to get the vaccine pay a penalty - like being banned from working where they could infect other people who want to work.

OhHum: 80-90% effective against severe disease. You can indeed find your 60% figure for effectiveness against infection by the Delta variant, which we why we (extra-unfortunately) still need masks in many situations. I am hoping that my booster shot, when I get it, indeed boosts that 60% number!

40-50% of officers that signed up to protect and serve are unvaccinated??? Absolutely disgusting.

Employees who don't get vaccinated should pick up the cost of constant testing, pick up the cost of their medical bills if they get Covid, and carry the legal liability for infecting others.

Robn, as a rule, we want to encourage preventive health care. That's why flu shots are free. But I could see establishing a modest co-pay for the tests after a reasonable grace period. And the co-pay could go up over time. But I suspect this would be a mandatory subject for collective bargaining for unionized workers.

I also suspect there will be lots of billable hours for trial attorneys with regard to liability.

(1) Good.
(2) But not Great. There should be no opt out. Regular testing is totally insufficient when there's an FDA-approved vaccine readily available.
(3) Due to a neighborhood incident, we had a police officer in our house last July who absolutely refused to wear a mask, and even my extraordinarily privileged family felt completely uncomfortable telling him he had to wear one so we just dealt with it. We mentioned it to another cop who basically said, "Yeah that guy's an idiot," but said nothing about addressing department policy, etc.
(4) Glad to see the union's making a play for proving to everyone once and for all that police officers unions are just bad and ought to be banned at the state level.

In this age of labor shortages, it looks like you only have to have an IQ of 40 to become one of New Haven's finest. As they say, only the good die young.

In this addition of "How Low Will Public Service Sector Unions Go" seriously..... Can we finally just get rid of these bafoons? Scott walker in Wisconsin had it half right but did t go after the police and f fire unions cause he was a political hack. The real solution is to get rid of all these unions in the public sector. Listening to these idiots about vaccine efficacy is a joke.

wesunidad: The US Constitution grants no right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The phrase is nowhere in the Constitution. The Declaration of Independence, which declared the 13 United Colonies to be "free and independent states", proclaims that the Creator endowed all men with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This phrase modified John Locke's assertion of a right to "life, liberty, and property".

1644...Thank you! I stand corrected, the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit is a statement in the Declaration of Independence.

But, according to the text, these rights are only guaranteed to MEN.

Has this been changed to include everyone or have I missed it.

Thanks again.