Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt. The damage to the car was minor, but …
“Stay away. I have COVID,” she told the first firefighters on scene.
Like most of the firefighters in the Valley, the firefighters at the wreck were not vaccinated against COVID-19. They took all the necessary protocols to protect themselves, and the minor crash was handled without incident.
But Seymour firefighters are frustrated.
They’re frustrated because 11 months after COVID-19 was found in Connecticut, and two months after the first COVID-19 vaccination clinics opened in the state — out of roughly 100 active volunteers, just four members of the Seymour Fire Department have been vaccinated.
“(The driver) ended up needing some type of medical evaluation (which vaccinated members of Seymour EMS handled),” Seymour Fire Department Chief Michael Lombardi said. “Obviously, we kept our distance, kept our masks on. She didn’t need to be extricated (cut from car) or anything like that, but these are the things we are running into. We’re not vaccinated, and it definitely is an issue.”
It’s the same story within fire departments in Ansonia and Derby. Members aren’t vaccinated.
Meanwhile, firefighters said their colleagues outside the lower Naugatuck Valley have been vaccinated — with some receiving second shots in January.
There are also vaccination discrepancies locally — Ansonia police are vaccinated, Seymour police are not. Darien, according to this news report, has a completely different interpretation of the vaccine eligibility requirements.
Volunteer FD Chiefs Are Frustrated
Firefighters and police in Seymour said they have not received vaccinations because only first responders who regularly respond to medical calls can get the shots.
Firefighters in Ansonia and Derby also said they were told by health district officials that firefighters don’t qualify for vaccinations. This was confirmed by the Naugatuck Valley Health District, whose health director said the vaccination rules come from the state.
The Valley Indy sent emails to the state Thursday morning and Friday afternoon seeking confirmation and comment.
In Seymour, the town’s ambulance service received shots, but not the volunteer fire department. In Derby, Storm Ambulance and Rescue received shots. They’re all medical responders, officially designated as the town’s “R‑1” responders.
But the volunteer firefighters said the designation between medical responders and firefighters makes no sense, because firefighters are often the first contact with people when responding to 911 calls.
Lombardi, the veteran fire chief in Seymour, decided to go public with his concerns.
He posted on The Valley Indy Facebook page and then reached out to The Valley Indy to set up a Zoom call Wednesday.
The video interview featured fire department chiefs or assistant chiefs from Ansonia, Derby and Seymour. Seven firefighters participated.
Each had the same message — keeping the shots away from firefighters doesn’t make sense, it hurts morale, and it’s dangerous to the community.
The complete interview is embedded at the top of this story.
“As chiefs we’re obligated to protect our people,” Chief Lombardi said. “By not being vaccinated, we’re not doing that.”
The firefighters described the vaccination ‘medical responder’ rule as “disconnected” from the way the local departments work. Firefighters are often the first on scene at car wrecks, carbon monoxide alarms, and similar calls for service.
If a person is trapped in a car, firefighters use the ‘jaws of life’ to cut the person out of the wreckage — then give the victim to EMS. Firefighters help EMS get people onto stretchers. They’ll do CPR on a patient when needed. The guidelines ignored those realities, firefighters said.
The firefighters said they’ve been patiently waiting for the next round of the state’s vaccination to include them in March.
They also pointed out that some departments outside the Valley have been vaccinated.
Changes
However, the state changed the game Monday when Gov. Lamont announced that the next round of COVID-19 vaccination will be determined by age, not by profession (aside from teachers and childcare workers), or underlying medical conditions.
Lombardi said the change means volunteer firefighters in their 20s and 30s — often the bulk of firefighters responding to calls — will have to wait longer for a vaccine while potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19. Then they’re going home to their families.
Derby Fire Department Chief David Lenart said that’s a problem.
“Our workforce is completely volunteer,” Lenart said. “There’s nothing as a department head to make people come to work. And when you have a situation like this pandemic, it really could affect us where our members don’t want to respond because they’re not protected.”
Lamont and his top COVID-19 advisers — who, it should be noted, are seen as a COVID-19 management model in the U.S. — said that going by age is the most efficient way to get shots into arms. Former Hartford Courant editor Dan Harr published a definitive look in Hearst newspapers examining how the Lamont administration decided to make the change, which has been met with opposition from everyone from grocery store unions to advocates for the disabled.
Haar’s reporting notes that before the schedule change — roughly half of Connecticut’s population would have been eligible, at once, to be included in the next round. Going by age keeps it manageable.
Meanwhile, the national vaccine roll out, which has been the subject of debate, continues to ramp up.
Needle Seems To Have Moved
In the Zoom call with The Valley Indy, the chiefs said they weren’t necessarily looking to point fingers or blame anyone for the fact volunteer firefighters were left out of the early vaccine rollout. They said they just wanted to see something done.
The Valley Indy reached out to state legislators Thursday. In an interview, state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria (R‑Seymour) said she had been essentially ‘yelling’ at the state to get them to include firefighters and police officers in the vaccination rollout.
State Rep. Kara Rochelle (D‑Ansonia) also issued a statement Thursday supporting the firefighters’ vaccination efforts.
Their decision to go public and argue their case might have made a difference, at least locally.
In an email Thursday evening Jessica Kristy, the director of health at the Naugatuck Valley Health District, said the state was ready to make a shift.
“I received verbal approval from the state and relayed to our chief elected officials and emergency management directors this morning that the Valley first responders in question – those that respond to 9 – 1‑1 emergencies that may not have a true medical certification but could be at risk of COVID-19 exposure from the nature of their work — can be uploaded into VAMS and schedule vaccine appointments,” Kristy wrote.
Official confirmation was supposed to be coming from the state at some point Friday.
Lombardi, while frustrated that it’s taken this long, said he’ll take what he can get. On Thursday night Lombardi said Seymour firefighters started completing the online forms to make vaccination appointments.
