MAINE, USA — The Maine Fire Chiefs' Association (MFCA) announced in a letter Tuesday its opposition to the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers.
About 60% of all fire departments in Maine belong to the MFCA, according to its website.
The letter, signed by MFCA President Darrell White, expresses concerns that the mandate will make it more difficult for departments to find fire and EMS staff.
"Many EMS agencies are experiencing staffing shortages and record high EMS call volumes. Fire and EMS employees have weathered incredible challenges and stresses throughout the months of this pandemic just to have the State add to the already high COVID stress," White wrote. "A vaccination mandate is expected to result in more providers leaving the field of EMS, further compromising EMS services, fire suppression, and rescues and adding additional challenges to the providers that remain."
White also said the MFCA believes the mandate was instituted without feedback from people who work in fire and EMS.
"Enforcement of a COVID-19 Vaccination mandate on Maine’s EMS agencies, both private and fire based, will have far reaching and long-lasting effects on the ability of EMS agencies to provide critical public safety services to the citizens of our communities," White wrote. "We believe this rule has been instituted without input or feedback from the fire service and with little consideration of the unintended consequences."
FULL LETTER
Since the mandate was announced, health care workers have participated in protests in Augusta and Portland. NEWS CENTER Maine reached out to Gov. Janet Mills' office for a comment on the Augusta protest, to which press secretary Lindsay Crete responded with the following statement:
"The State of Maine has long required the immunization of employees of designated health care facilities to reduce the risk of exposure to, and possible transmission of, vaccine-preventable diseases. These immunizations include measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, hepatitis B, and influenza. This change simply adds the COVID-19 vaccine and is supported by a broad coalition of health care providers across Maine, including Maine Hospital Association, Maine Medical Association, Maine Primary Care Association, Maine Health Care Association, Maine Emergency Medical Services, and Maine Dental Association, along with the state’s two largest health systems, MaineHealth and Northern Light Health.
Vaccinations are safe, effective, and the best tool we have to protect the lives and livelihoods of Maine people and to curb this pandemic. Health care workers perform a critical role in protecting the health of Maine people, and it is imperative they take every precaution, particularly in light of the more dangerous and transmissible Delta variant, to not only protect their health but also that of their patients, who include our most vulnerable. Further, the Governor believes that every person in Maine who is placed in the care of a health care facility has the right to expect - as do their families - that they will receive high-quality and safe care, which includes having their care providers be fully vaccinated in order to protect them against this deadly virus as much as possible."
Crete said the mandate has a medical exemption.
The York County Chiefs' Association also published a letter of its own, expressing its concerns about the mandate as it currently stands. Among other things, the letter asks for an extension of the Oct. 1 deadline.
FULL YORK COUNTY CHIEFS' ASSOCIATION LETTER
NEWS CENTER Maine has heard from some other EMS departments in the state that are concerned about the mandate and how it may impact staffing.
Moosabec Ambulance Service is mostly volunteer and covers the towns of Jonesport and Beals. Renee Gray, who runs Mossabec Ambulance Service, told NEWS CENTER Maine about half of her employees are not willing to be vaccinated.
For Downeast Ambulance service, which is a full-time ambulance service that serves about a third of Washington County, it's a similar story as 40% of its staff will not get vaccinated.
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