- Thousands of New York City police officers, firefighters and other municipal workers have been placed on unpaid leave for not complying with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine mandate
- According to the mandate, those who have not received at least one vaccine dose will be placed on unpaid leave starting Monday, which might result in potential shortages in police, fire and EMS staffing
- The police department, which employs about 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, reported an 84 percent vaccination rate as of Sunday evening, while the fire department said 80 percent of its employees are vaccinated
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Thousands of New York City police officers, firefighters and other municipal workers have been placed on unpaid leave for not complying with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s coronavirus COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
According to statistics released by de Blasio’s office, some 22,800 municipal workers remain unvaccinated.
On Monday, spokesperson Mitch Schwartz told Fox News that 9,000 city employees were placed on leave without pay.
Meanwhile, Andy Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association union, said it “is not entirely clear how many fire companies will be closed today” as a result of the mandate going into effect, but he was “expecting dozens,” as reported by Fox News.
On Saturday, de Blasio tweeted that 91 percent of city workers had received the vaccine, compared with 83 percent on Friday night.
“More than half of the workers who have not been vaccinated, yet have submitted exemption requests, and those requests are being processed,” he added in a tweet on Sunday.
But fire union officials called on de Blasio to give their rank and file more time to decide whether to be vaccinated.
On Monday, James McCarthy, president of the FDNY-Uniformed Fire Officers Association, said, “We are forcing these decisions on our members, and they are acting accordingly. Some members have gotten the vaccination,” as quoted by Fox News.
According to the mandate, those who have not received at least one vaccine dose will be placed on unpaid leave starting Monday, which might result in potential shortages in police, fire and EMS staffing.
New York City has more than 300,000 employees.
The police department, which employs about 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, reported an 84 percent vaccination rate as of Sunday evening, while the fire department said 80 percent of its employees are vaccinated.
