Carin Rosado is the second person I spoke with on the New York Mandate Podcast, back in May 2022 when the mandates were in full effect. Even though I had just started the podcast and she didn’t know me, Carin invited me to her home and talked with me in depth about working during the height of the pandemic and how losing her job as an FDNY paramedic under NYC’s public sector mandate was affecting her life. Carin didn’t get her FDNY job back after the mandate ended.
If you haven’t heard our original conversation, now you can watch this video version, which I hadn’t previously published. I’ve also included a brief conversation we had in October 2022 at the end. Carin had many thoughtful and insightful things to say, so I hope you’ll give her a listen.
I also have some more recent news from Carin: She was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and will be beginning treatment soon.
Her friend and fellow paramedic Krista O’Dea (whose own story you can hear in episode 3), has started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to support her:
Fundraiser by Krista O’Dea: Donate to help Carin Rosado
“The mandate came down that you’ll get [the vaccine] or you’ll lose your job. And that was a lot of anxiety. I would go back and forth with it. I would say, ‘I should just comply.’ This is a career that I worked so hard for. I really wanted this career, so I don’t want to lose it. And then I would go back to: But is it right for me? Is it right for my body? Do I give up the possibility of . . . maybe not being able to have kids—just because we just don’t know—to keep a career?” - Carin Rosado
In this episode of the New York Mandate podcast, I talk with Carin Rosado. She began working as an EMT for the Fire Department of the City of New York in 2012 and quickly moved up to working as a paramedic. In November 2021, she was put on unpaid leave because she decided not to comply with the New York City mandate requiring city workers to take a COVID-19 vaccine. Her employment with FDNY was terminated in February 2022.
Rosado talked with me about working through the height of the pandemic, catching COVID, and the far-reaching effects of her decision not to take a vaccine.
We also talked about the lawsuit in which she’s a lead plaintiff, the New York anti-mandate movement, and the options she’s considering for the future.
Here are some links related to things we talked about during the episode:
Bravest for Choice
An organization supporting NYC firefighters, medics, and EMTs who have been terminated or put on leave because they have not complied with the city’s vaccine mandates.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Section 75 of New York State Civil Service Law
This section of New York State’s civil service law covers removal and other disciplinary actions.
New York State Mask-or-Vaccine Mandate
This New York State mandate from 2021 required masks to be worn indoors, but gave venues and businesses the option of requiring proof of vaccination instead.
Order of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to Require COVID-19 Vaccination for City Employees and Certain City Contractors
This is the order that former Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi issued on October 20, 2021 requiring New York City municipal employees and contractors to be vaccinated. This is the mandate that led to Carin Rosado’s employment being terminated.
Order of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene to Require COVID-19 Vaccination in the Workplace
This is the order that former Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi issued on December 13, 2021 requiring all workers in New York City who work in a workplace or interact with other workers or the public to be vaccinated.
About the New York Mandate Podcast
The New York Mandate Podcast is an ongoing series of conversations exploring the costs and consequences of vaccine mandates in New York City. I talk with workers, students, and parents who have been directly affected by the mandates, as well as legal and policy experts.
In late 2021, the City introduced a series of requirements for workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. These requirements were put in place through executive orders issued by the administration of former mayor Bill de Blasio. They covered nearly all workers in New York City, in both the public and private sectors. They also barred unvaccinated adults, including parents, from schools.
Current mayor Eric Adams kept the mandates in place until November 1, 2022 for the private sector and February 10, 2023 for City workers, and has encouraged private employers to put their own vaccine requirements in place.
The views expressed in the New York Mandate podcast are the personal opinions of the people speaking, and are not intended to provide medical or legal advice.
Join the Conversation
Have you lost your job, been put on leave, or lost opportunities to work as an independent contractor as a result of your decision not to comply with a vaccine mandate in New York? Did you take a vaccine against your wishes in order to keep your job? Please get in touch with me at NYMpodcast@protonmail.com.
VIDEO + Update: New York Mandate Podcast, Ep. 2: Paramedic Carin Rosado