Firefighters and EMS personnel have an October 18th vaccination deadline.
Kennewick Fire Chief Chad Michael says they have 91 shift personnel who are required to be vaccinated.
“So once that came from the governor then we started looking at steps we did have to take. That involves steps like meeting with our local. There were some discussions that had to take place to figure out what are the steps that we’re gonna take. Some internal discussions had to happen here in the city,” said Michael.
There are 4-5 options they could choose from in the plan they put together–one being that they could not continue in their work providing fire and EMS services.
“So with our 91 people, out of that number we have 69 that have been vaccinated, 14 that have applied for exemptions and 8 that are in the final processes of making their final decisions,” said Michael.
Pasco Fire Department says only three of their staff members do not have vaccination records on file and a couple of others are questioning whether they will get it. Exemptions are getting worked out currently with the City of Pasco HR department and the unions.
