OMAHA- It was disheartening to learn that 41% of Omaha police officers have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 — and further discouraging to see that the police union president is steeped in disinformation that justifies their decision.

Police officers’ self-declared role is to protect and serve society, but these unvaccinated officers risk endangering themselves and members of the public.

The Fire Department has done better than police, with 73% of firefighters vaccinated, but those numbers can still improve.

As much as we all dearly wish otherwise, the pandemic is not over.

It is the availability and acceptance of vaccines by a majority of Americans that has enabled society and the economy to reopen to the extent we enjoy this summer. With some exceptions, it is the often-ideological refusal of a minority that fosters a breeding ground for mutations of the virus and jeopardizes our progress.

While the general population cannot be coerced into being vaccinated, the city can and should do more to minimize the danger posed by our unvaccinated public safety employees. The city has taken a good step in ending a policy that generally presumed first responders who contracted COVID had done so on the job, making them eligible for workers’ compensation. Now, workers’ comp won’t be approved for unvaccinated employees.

We urge the city to employ further carrots and sticks to increase the safety to the public of public safety employees — even if it doesn’t want to require vaccinations, which according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission would be within its power.

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