MANCHESTER, NH – Police Chief Allen Aldenberg acknowledged on Wednesday that currently there are police officers who have contracted COVID-19, but he declined to specify how many employees are infected or in quarantine.
Aldemberg said the illness has not affected staffing or the day-to-day operation of the department.
The issue came up Wednesday during a meeting of the Police Commission at the Manchester Community Resource Center on Lake Avenue.
Aldenberg said the health department has said that officers can expect to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in the next two to three weeks.
“It all depends when the health department receives it and they are able to set up their process, the date and time, the logistics of it,” he said.
The state has prioritized who will receive the vaccine first. They include health-care workers, residents of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, and the state’s first responders.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended front-line healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities be at the head of the line to be inoculated, something New Hampshire is following.
Aldenberg said a couple of employees have asked whether the vaccine will be mandated. Aldenberg said it will not.
Aldenberg had an initial discussion with health officials concerning that question and the general consensus is that the vaccine will not be mandated.
“If they don’t want to take the vaccine, who are we to tell you or them what to put into their bodies?” he said.
Even if people get the vaccine, health officials will advise people to still wear the masks, Aldenberg said.
“I’m not going to line my employees up and tell them to get in line you’re getting this vaccine,” he said. “It’s a bad road to go down.”