On July 19, 2021, the City Commissioners requested an update on the vaccination percentages of first responders, any strategies that were in place, and if there were any transmissions within the city departments.
As of right now, it is not asked of city employees if they have received the COVID-19 vaccine. As of August 13, the Salina Fire Department estimates that 48% of its first responders have been vaccinated. Other City departments, at this time, have no estimates on staff vaccination rates.
Natalie Fischer, Human Resources Director, states that the City of Salina has not offered vaccination incentives, unlike other cities, and therefore HR does not ask city employees to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status.
A step that the City of Salina has taken includes partnering with OHP to create walk-in vaccination clinics at the Carver Center, available for City employees and their dependents.
Air purification systems were installed in all City of Salina ambulances in early 2021, through a CARES grant.
The City is not currently testing any city employees within any department.
To test all City employees, HR estimates that it would cost the City somewhere between $11,000-14,000.
Natalie Fischer took some time to explain the incentives that other cities and counties within Kansas are offering to their employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Commissioner Karl Ryan asked if there are antibody treatments available within the city of Salina, specifically to city employees. Fischer stated that she unfortunately did not have an answer for him.
Commissioner Davis stepped in and answered that, in some circumstances, it is available.
The Kansas county that was referenced repeatedly was Johnson County, Kansas' most populous county. This reference was used as in talking about vaccination rates, percentages, and the like.
Commissioner Peck, who was participating in the meeting via Zoom, stated that he was vaccinated against COVID-19 in March of this year. He was thankful for that, as he voluntarily shared that he is currently battling COVID-19. He believes that if he had not received the vaccine 5 months ago, that his condition would be much worse.
This freelance writer wishes Commissioner Peck a full and speedy recovery.
Following this, numerous citizens stood up and gave their passionate opinion concerning the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cheri Harp took the podium, and asked each of the Commissioners if they would disclose their vaccination status. She went a step further, and asked about their health status in general. Before any could answer, she said it's none of her business.
"Our personal healthcare should only be between us and our doctor," Harp stated.
That seemed to be the consensus behind the podium.
Kevin Korb brought a different perspective.
He believes that the incentives that some entities are attaching to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine are creating a negative stigma for it, adding to the public's distrust.
After 2 citizens stepping forward and reading directly from the warning label on a given vaccination, Commissioner Peck spoke up. "Can I ask what the point of reading this is?"
The concerned citizens said that they wanted to state facts regarding the discussion in question.
"You do know that the City of Salina is not going to force, or mandate, the citizens to get a vaccine, correct?" Commissioner Peck went on.
Commissioner Hoppock jumped in.
"I think there's a confusion here. Commissioner Hodges asked that the staff give us an update several weeks ago. What we received today was an update on where we're at. There is no action item in here. We're not looking at requiring people to be vaccinated."
Mayor Hodges reiterated, "This is a discussion item. I haven't heard any single commissioner say that we need to be mandating vaccinations for first responders. It's helpful for us to stay ahead of the curve, and know what other communities and the federal government are requiring. Being wrong footed is no place to be, if we're trying to be proactive."
Commissioner, Dr Trent Davis said "We would be ignorant to not look at what the rest of the world is doing. Don't think that this is the first county in the world to encounter COVID. We'd be stupid to not learn from other people's experience in this. Please, don't insult my intelligence. Now, if you don't look to see what options are... when you get your back up against a wall, and you have to make a snap decision like we did a year and a half ago, you're making it with relatively little information. We're trying to be as well prepared... As a business, we have to look at the best business policy for trying to keep as many of our employees healthy and working, because they work for you all."
Davis went on, "Like it or not, this is serious business. If you wait until the last minute, unprepared, we have no chance of surviving. We are listening, trying to keep your government up and running. Should disaster befall us, we have a plan, or at least we know what the options are so we can come up with a plan."
Farber reminded the commissioners that the citizens are listening, too.
"There are a group of citizens that were listening the same way a year ago, when you were saying you're not going to mandate, and all of a sudden mandates pop back on the scene. You want to listen but you're listening from one angle. Listen to all of us. I hope we're not leaning towards making every city employee receive a vaccine or to divulge their information and have to be tested every week."
Mayor Hodges spoke up, "We have a duty to protect our employees, as well as our citizens. We also have a duty to protect our department. If any illness runs rampant through a department, that's going to have a huge impact on the safety of your life. There are a lot of things that we need to take into consideration while formulating policies to keep everyone safe. We aren't looking to impose a hardship. If an employee chooses not to be vaccinated, there are things that we need to do to make sure the rest of the department and the public are safe."
While no action was taken on this issue in this particular commission meeting, Mayor Hodges noted, "It is important to have these conversations because they're going to be coming up. They're going to be coming up in the future."
It is my belief that it would also be important to look at counties besides Johnson County in the future. Johnson County, while equally important as the rest of our Kansas counties, has very little comparison to Saline County. One cannot simply compare a county of 54,000 with the 609,000 Kansas City suburban metropolis.