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Several hundred Boston city workers now on unpaid leave for refusing to get a Covid-19 shot

By adamg on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 10:15pm

WBZ Newsradio's Karyn Regal reports 812 of Boston's roughly 18,000 municipal workers are no longer drawing a paycheck because they won't get a shot or a weekly test.

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Covid-19


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Comments

By MC Slim JB on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 10:44pm.

I'll paraphrase it: we live in the stupidest fucking timeline.

By anon on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 10:49pm.

They must have plenty of money in the bank to support themselves knowing this was coming and still not get vaccinated. Good luck trying to collect unemployment like all the other unemployed who are still stuck in the beaurocratic red tape of a broken system and unresponsive website. Ugh.

By HighGuard on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 11:36pm.

Last I was aware unemployment was for those fired through no fault of their own. This is kinda the definition of their own fault

By dan r on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 6:07am.

Isn’t perfect, but it does what it’s supposed to do very well. Maybe you can contribute some bucks to upgrading their website so it has more bells and whistles, but if you follow instructions and do things the way they ask you to, it’s one of the best systems in the country.

I know it’s fashionable in some circles to bash the government for every reason or no reason at all. It makes you a Rugged Individual, iirc.

By cybah on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 10:17am.

Collecting unemployment right now and I have to use this website. First off, I was surprised its the same website that I used in 2010. But its still leagues better than National Grid's Website to manage your gas service account. Circa 1997 Netscape Navigator Gold 3.03 website.

I will admit the DUA's website is clunky in terms of UI and could use an update. But it does everything I want it to do, does it **securely**, and its rare to get any error messages (outside of user not following directions or system related outages)

And hey, anything is better than having to mail back those paper cards.

And FWIW, I recall that I was one of the early users of this website when it was launched in 2001 (shortly after 9/11). It was a godsend to be able to submit online.. doing those cards sucked, and if there was a mail delay, your check was late.

By anon on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 11:04am.

Just because *you* didn't have trouble doesn't mean DUA has been perfect.

For example, there are a lot of stories of people who followed all the rules, collected unemployment for several months, and then got a friendly letter that DUA finally got around to reviewing their case and decided they weren't eligible after all. So they have to pay back thousands of dollars they don't have because they spent it on rent and food.

By cybah on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 2:10pm.

That has zero to do with the website.

By SwirlyGrrl on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 10:58pm.

Several hundred of the STUPIDEST city workers are now on leave.

This is a bozo filter to end all bozo filters.

By perruptor on Fri, 10/15/2021 - 9:03am.

The first of the armed forces to announce discharges for vaccine resisters.

The US Navy said Thursday that personnel who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19 will be expelled from the force, ahead of the November 28 deadline for the injection.

"With Covid-19 vaccines now mandatory for all military members, the Navy has announced plans to start processing for discharge those who refuse vaccination without a pending or approved exemption," it said in a statement.
. . .
The navy has been particularly sensitive to the pandemic, because of the risk that a single Covid case could infect an entire ship or submarine at sea, forcing it out of action.

Last year the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was struck by an outbreak that infected around a quarter of the 4,800 crew, forcing the warship to remain in port in Guam for disinfection for several weeks.

By anon on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 11:00pm.

Post the open positions !!

By Karen on Tue, 10/12/2021 - 11:39pm.

We need a breakdown on why they refuse to be vaccinated. They can't all be Trump supporting MAGAs.

By _Sean on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 1:07am.

You say that, but...

By BostonDog on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 6:43am.

About 16% of Boston went for Trump and the fools refusing shots are about 5% of the city's workforce.

To assume 1/3 of Trump supporters are the Heavens Gate type wouldn't be surprising.

By lbb on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 11:53am.

We need a breakdown on why they refuse to be vaccinated.

Why? We're concerned with the effect of their behavior, not their reasons for indulging in it.

By Lee on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 2:35pm.

… doesn’t mean everyone lacks it.

By lbb on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 3:38pm.

Perhaps you lack curiosity if you see "But why?" as indicating a lack of curiosity, heh.

By berkleealum on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 4:29pm.

“why aren’t people getting shots?” has been asked and answered ad nauseam

1) ongoing distrust toward the medical/pharmaceutical community
2) “it’s a personal choice”
3) “i have antibodies” and the related: “my immune system is good”

By BostonDog on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 4:46pm.

There's a lot of people who just have a needle phobia.

I got vaccinated as soon as I could but was still dreading the actual shot. There's a sizable percentage of hold outs which would gladly take it in pill or liquid form.

By lbb on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 10:04am.

There's a sizable percentage of hold outs which would gladly take it in pill or liquid form.

I'm not saying it's not so, but there's a big difference between feeling this must be the case and it actually being the case. Does anyone know?

By BostonDog on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 10:44am.

Here's a Oxford University study which pegs it at about 10% of the hold outs in the UK. No idea about the US but it would be surprising if it wasn't similar.

By lbb on Thu, 10/14/2021 - 7:18pm.

It's a shame that this phobia isn't addressed in a straightforward fashion. I don't share it myself, but I believe that people who administer needles have really good strategies for helping people with needle phobia. I haven't seen any of the "get the shot" promotional materials that address this -- maybe it would help if they did.

By Marco on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 11:54am.

and in my department there are quite a few people refusing to get the vaccine. Some are immigrants, latino, black, seemingly liberal white folks, etc. Defniitely not all the Trumper demographic.
I've heard various reasons for not getting the shot:
"It's not FDA approved" (it is now)
"you don't know what's in it" (while drawing on a Newport cigarette with an open bag of Doritos in hand that one suspects they could not even pronounce the ingredients listed on the back of the bag, much less tell you what they are or what they're used for)
"my religion is against it" (somehow Jesus made exceptions for Tetanus, Mumps, Measles, Chicken Pox, etc vaccines this person has received in the past so their path to heaven is still clear).

Stupid comes in all shapes and sizes folks.

By lbb on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 3:39pm.

"my religion is against it"

No it isn't. Name your religion.

By Sock_Puppet on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 6:32am.

"holy fucking shit, vaccine mandates are causing teachers who don't believe in science to quit, nurses who don't believe in medicine to quit, and cops who don't believe in public safety to quit. I'm failing to see the downside to this"

https://twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1448013833847681030

By anon on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 8:40am.

When this finally plays out, they will all quietly get their back pay for sitting on their backsides.

By WalkingTheDog on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 8:49am.

Yesterday I read that COVID is now the leading cause of death among police officers.

By lbb on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 9:24am.

If you won't do the ONE THING that will do the most to protect you...

By Fenway Crank on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 9:44am.

good!

don’t care about public health?

Get the F&@! out

By Waquiot on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 10:39am.

The City of Boston is not requiring it's employees to get vaccinated.

It is requiring non-vaccinated employees to get weekly Covid testing.

I'm very much pro-vaccine, but I can wrap my head around hesitancy. Refusing both the shots and the testing? I gotta scratch my head on this one.

By AP on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 10:52am.

has spread a rumor that the swabs used to test for Covid cause cancer. So now the conspiracy theorists are refusing to be tested.

By Cranky on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 11:40am.

Everyone (even vaccinated folks) at my work has to get tested every week. It's just... not a big deal.

By BethC on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 12:40pm.

Ours too. We are required to be vaccinated and test weekly. I can't imagine the reasons for refusing testing, if I'm understanding correctly -- unless the employees have to pay and it's particularly expensive? It involves rubbing a swab in one's nose and sending it out to the lab. Not too difficult or invasive, and a comfort to know my status before I travel or visit people.

By Waquiot on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 3:35pm.

They are giving employees an hour off a week to be tested. See more here.

Getting a swab stuck up one's nose is a bit unpleasant, but losing your pay is a bit more unpleasant.

By anon on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 12:00pm.

Would be great to see the demographics here. How many men? women? URM? ages?

I bet a lot of folks would be surprised by those numbers.

By Notfromboston on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 12:21pm.

why is everyone here assumes that this will make the city hall less incompetent on average? you can be lazy and vaxxed at the same time

By Lee on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 1:43pm.

But being vaxxed is indicative of a sense of social responsibility. People with that quality generally pull their own weight as well.

By Lee on Wed, 10/13/2021 - 1:39pm.

These self centered slobs are probably some of the same who do little to no work. Civil service is not the job for them. Good riddance and here’s hoping the new hires have a better attitude and work ethic.