US COVID vaccine mandate: Massachusetts State Police Troopers resign from their jobs

A union representing nearly 2,000 troopers of the Massachusetts State Police said on Monday that dozens of active-duty members have resigned from their jobs in protest of the state’s strict COVID-19 vaccine mandate. “To date, dozens of troopers have already submitted their resignation paperwork, some of whom plan to return to other departments offering reasonable alternatives such as mask-wearing and regular testing,” Michael Cherven, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, informed in a statement on SPAM’s official website. “It is unfortunate that the Governor and his team have chosen to mandate one of the most stringent vaccine mandates in the country with no reasonable alternatives,” State Police Association of Massachusetts (SPAM) Statement on Gov. Charlie Baker’s jab mandate read. 

Several of the State Police troopers headed to the MSP Human Resources to evaluate their pensions as they prepared to resign or retire but not take the COVID-19 vaccine, local news outlets reported. The mass resignations from their jobs came after a judge denied the police union’s request last week to put the requirement that mandates the COVID-19 inoculation on hold. Governor Charlie Baker's COVID vaccine mandate applies to all state employees, including state troopers effective October 17. "It is unfortunate that the Governor and his team have chosen to enact one of the most stringent vaccine mandates in the country with no reasonable alternatives," State Police Association President Michael Cherven said in a statement. 

“Throughout COVID, we have been on the front lines protecting the citizens of Massachusetts, Simply put, all we are asking for are the same basic accommodations that countless other departments have provided to their first responders,” the union body said in the statement, adding “We are disappointed in the judge’s ruling.” 

The recent controversy over the vaccine mandates and troopers quitting rather than taking the COVID-19 shot has sparked worried for the State Police, which is already critically short-staffed. The unprecedented move, it said, has driven out the troopers from speciality units that investigate homicides, terrorism, computer crimes, arsons, gangs, narcotics, and human trafficking and has returned them to uniformed patrolling. 

New York struggles with staffing shortage in the healthcare sector

Similarly, due to the staffing shortages fuelled by the recent COVID-19 vaccine mandate among the healthcare sector workers, the Governor for the state of New York said that she would medically train the National Guard and deploy them at hospitals to compensate for the shortfall. Governor Kathy Hochul's office released a document, ‘Preparation of State of Emergency Declaration’, just a day ahead of the Monday, September 27 deadline for the healthcare workers to compulsorily get coronavirus vaccination or lose their jobs.  In her emergency plan, Hochul declared recruiting medical professionals from other countries, including recent medicine graduates and retired and formerly practising health care professionals.

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