Many cities and counties throughout the State of North Carolina have implemented vaccine mandates for their employees. As these mandates are being put into place by cities and counties it is directly affecting first responders, i.e., police, firefighters, EMS, and even dispatchers.
These mandate policies are requiring employees to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or otherwise submit to weekly testing. Some of these policies go so far as to terminate personnel who fail to comply, others are withholding promotions and or salary increases and bonuses. Also, many of the agencies that are requiring regular testing are placing the burden of the cost of the testing on the individual.
Back The Blue, NC is supporting all first responders, both the vaccinated as well as those that have chosen to not receive the vaccine.
BTBNC is a law enforcement support group and as such, we felt compelled to announce our position on this issue publicly.
BTBNC supports the right of all first responders to make their own medical treatment choices, including the decision of whether or not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
We at BTBNC are not "anti-vax." All of our staff members have taken other vaccines. Our staff is not against science. They are not "truthers." They do not deny the existence of SARS-CoV-2, or that COVID-19 is a serious respiratory disease. Our staff members are also not ideological, as BTBNC members are drawn from left, right, middle, and every persuasion in between. Some of our staff are religious, others are not. What our staff opposes are top-down mandates, coercion, and control. Fundamentally, BTBNC is supporting all first responders and their personal medical decisions.
Our first responders are the ones who get up, put on their uniforms, go to work, and put their lives on the line for other people every day. At this divisive time in our country with the current 'Defund' and 'Abolish' police movements, the last thing these front-line heroes need is to be concerned about losing their livelihood due to their own personal medical choices.
We would like to see all cities and counties within North Carolina rethink their position on these mandates and hope that they will choose to withdraw all mandates effective immediately.
Please allow our first responders the right to pursue their livelihoods in the same way they have prior to these mandates.