Kapuskasing firefighters will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
That was the decision made by Town Council during a meeting last night after wrestling with its policy where firefighters help paramedics lift patients. Council had originally decided to allow unvaccinated firefighters to remain in their vehicles when assisting paramedics, while those fully vaccinated helped out.
When asked how many firefighters are without a COVID-19 vaccination, Mayor Dave Plourde wouldn’t elaborate.
“That’s neither here or there,” he said. “The fact of the matter is that we saw that they work in close proximity to health care workers in health field so it’s only logical that they would have to be vaccinated.”
Plourde says the next step is to decide a time frame for firefighters to comply with the decision or risk termination.
“Well as you heard tonight there was discussion around 42 days to have someone or some person fully vaccinated and that’s what staff is going to come back with and work with and they are going to put it together within that bylaw. “
