To the editor: I’m a retired firefighter from the Los Angeles area. I have been following the issue regarding certain firefighters and police officers opposing vaccination against COVID-19. One important issue that I haven’t heard about has to do with compensation for employees. (“How fed are anti-Vaxx readers? They defend compulsory vaccination,” Opinion, Oct. 2)
If a firefighter or police officer is injured or ill at work, the employer pays the treatment costs. By resisting the vaccination, these people become more susceptible to COVID-19 infection.
Serious infection could result in an employee being taken out of service and medical expenses borne by taxpayers. These can be medical bills, hospital bills, paying their salary during their absence, and paying overtime for those who replace the sick.
Is that fair to the taxpayer? People have a right not to be vaccinated, but is it responsible behavior? I do not think so.
Mike Reardon, Fallbrook
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To the editors: officials and firefighters are calling for vaccination exemptions in droves. Those requesting religious exemptions should not be asked to patrol streets, fight fires, or do anything else that might induce them to interact with members of the public. Instead, they should get desk jobs.
Those seeking medical exemptions should not be asked to do anything that could potentially harm their delicate bodies. Instead of this? Desk jobs.
Better still, they should all be trained in handling canola kits and avoiding backwater.
Leslee Koritzke, Altadena
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To the Editor: I have witnessed two deadly epidemics in my life – HIV / AIDS, which killed tens of thousands of gay men in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s; and COVID-19, which killed more than 700,000 people in the United States
I hope to survive both and die of old age.
Preventing infection is key to safety, but the spread of disease has only been criminalized for one of these pandemics. In many states, conservatives made it a crime to knowingly infect another person with HIV.
Now many conservatives are cheering people’s “freedom” to spread COVID-19.
John Kluge, North Hollywood
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