Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave city workers a simple choice—either take at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot by the end of the working day this Friday, or be sent home indefinitely without pay. The city’s firefighters union has now told its unvaccinated members to ignore the mayor. Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, told reporters Wednesday: “I have told my members that if they choose to remain unvaccinated, they must still report for duty... If they are told they cannot work, it will be the department and city of New York that sends them home. And it will be the department and the city of New York that has failed to protect the citizens of New York.” Earlier in the day, a New York State judge threw out a police union request to temporarily block the vaccine mandate, but the Police Benevolent Association said it will appeal that decision. On Thursday, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey showing that 5 percent of unvaccinated American adults say they have left a job due to a vaccine mandate.
