The devil may be in the details, but he’s not in the coming coronavirus vaccine, a Bronx city councilman and Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Sunday church service, vowing to show New Yorkers the shot is nothing to fear.
“I know there’s some people that are afraid,” said Democratic Councilman Fernando Cabrera during services at the New Life Outreach International church, which he also serves as pastor.
“I want to tell everybody, you’re not getting the 666 in this vaccine, OK?” he continued, invoking the biblical number of the beast. “I want to tell you straight-up, there is no 666, there’s no conspiracy, I’ll be the first one to get it if I’m allowed to.”
Cabrera sang the shot’s praises at the Morris Avenue church one day after The Post reported bombshell survey findings that more than half of city firefighters would refuse the vaccine.
He then brought on de Blasio — repeatedly urging the sleepy Sunday morning crowd to make some more noise after Hizzoner was greeted with muted applause — to assure the flock that healthiness is next to godliness.
“In a matter of days, the first vaccine arrives in New York City,” said de Blasio, seemingly volunteering himself and Cabrera to demonstrate that the vaccine is not harmful.
“When it’s our turn, councilmember, you and I will be there together, and we’ll show people that it’s safe and that it’s gonna bring us forward,” he said.
A City Hall spokeswoman confirmed in a statement that de Blasio would indeed take the shot publicly in order to build confidence in its safety.
“As the mayor indicted today, he will take the vaccine in a public setting with community leaders to show New Yorkers that it’s safe and effective,” said Avery Cohen.
The pols boosted the vaccine in the wake of a new survey of 2,053 members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association union that found 55 percent would not get the potentially life-saving shot.
The overall number of responses accounts for about a quarter of the UFA’s total membership.
That skepticism extends to the general public, with 20 percent of New Yorkers saying in a recent Department of Health poll that they would not get the vaccine, and 27 percent saying they are unsure.
The Pfizer-developed vaccine has thus far been found in trials to be safe and 95-percent effective against COVID-19.
Pending emergency approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration, the first 170,000 doses of the vaccine are set to arrive in New York State by Dec. 15.
Most early doses are expected to be earmarked for frontline first responders and vulnerable populations, such as seniors, with most healthy Americans on track to receive it later in 2021.