Lisa Kashinsky
Boston Herald
BOSTON — More Massachusetts firefighters are in quarantine due to the coronavirus than ever before — prompting the head of the major firefighters’ union to press the state for more information about when vaccines will be available to first responders.
In the past week, 112 firefighters across the state have tested positive for COVID-19, said Richard MacKinnon Jr., president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. And 637 of the union’s more than 12,000 members are in quarantine — the highest number since the pandemic arrived in Massachusetts.
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“Obviously my concerns are my firefighters getting sick with COVID,” MacKinnon told the Herald. “And I’m worried about the quarantine numbers especially as far as it’s affecting manpower and staffing in fire houses across the state.”
The sick firefighters are just some of the estimated more than 82,000 active cases in the commonwealth, according to state Department of Public Health data, as new infections remain elevated post- Thanksgiving.
“During this pandemic our numbers have gone the ways of the general public — when the general public has seen an increase, it’s all been somewhat relative,” MacKinnon said.
Police, firefighters and emergency medical services are given third priority under Phase One of the state’s ongoing vaccine rollout.
But the timing is murky. Long-term care facilities are expected to begin vaccinations next week, with first responders to follow sometime in January, Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said Friday.
“We are scouting out potential sites and partnering with providers to stand up mass vaccination sites across the commonwealth,” Sudders said, adding that “some local boards of health, hospitals and medical providers have also stepped up to volunteer to support vaccinating our first responders.”
MacKinnon expressed “frustration” at the limited information for those on the front lines.
“I realize there’s a lot of moving parts,” he said. “But they’ve known there’s been a vaccine in the works and eventually they’re going to need a mass vaccination program, and there doesn’t seem to be a plan in place.”
Still, he said firefighters “want to be part of the solution.”
“We’re going to continue to do that whether we’re vaccinated or not,” he said. “But the ability to vaccinate us all is going to be better for first responders and better for the general public.”
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