What you should know
- More than 22,000 New York City city workers could be on unpaid leave as the city’s vaccines mandate goes into full effect on Monday.
- In the last 24 hours before the deadline, about 2,000 more employees received their vaccination, De Blasio said. More than half of unvaccinated workers have applied for waivers, which are being processed.
- As of Sunday morning, the police department, which employs some 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, reported an 84% vaccination rate. The fire department said Sunday afternoon that 80% of its employees were vaccinated: 75% of firefighters, 87% of EMTS and 90% of civilian employees.
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NEW AYORK – More than 22,000 New York City municipal workers could be on custom unpaid leave after the city’s vaccines mandate goes into effect.
All five counties have been bracing for the possibility of a worker shortage since Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last month that public employees who fail to provide proof of at least one dose of the COVID vaccine will not be paid and are at risk. of losing their jobs after Monday’s deadline. The mandate has increased vaccination rates among members of the FDNY, the New York Police Department, the sanitation department, and other city workers, but 9% of the city’s 300,000 employees had not yet received the vaccine. until Sunday, the mayor said.
In the last 24 hours before the deadline, about 2,000 more employees received their vaccination, De Blasio said. More than half of unvaccinated workers have applied for waivers, which are being processed and it is unclear if they will be approved for medical and religious reasons.
A clearer picture of the city’s situation in terms of worker shortages was expected to be provided later on Monday, when the city updates its total number of vaccinated workers.
Unions representing workers from the FDNY, the agency with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the city, held a press conference early Monday to address the deadline.
“All we’re asking for is a little extra time,” said FDNY Fire Officers Association President Jim McCarthy, adding that members had nine days to make a decision.
Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro said the mandate was purely a political move by the mayor. “This is not a city in crisis. Right now COVID rates are plummeting. Why are they imposing this on us, we all think this is a political issue,” he said.
Ansbro announced Sunday that 2,000 firefighters called in sick Sunday because they were “having flu-like symptoms, because that’s what the vaccine does to people.” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro confirmed the large number of medical licenses, but said they were in apparent protest over the city’s vaccine mandate.
Sources told our sister station NBC New York that more than half of the firefighters who said they were sick were not recently vaccinated.
“The false and irresponsible sick leave of some of our members is creating a danger for New Yorkers and their fellow firefighters. They need to go back to work or risk the consequences of their actions, “Nigro said over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Nigro has also tried to quell rumors that fire stations were forced to close in each of the five boroughs. He says that every time he sees a company go out of commission, resources are shifted to get that company back in service. The fire commission stressed that the department has not closed any fire stations and said the FDNY’s response time to calls has not been affected.
The FDNY is analyzing the possibility that 20% of fire companies will be closed and that there will be 20% fewer ambulances on the road by Monday. Ansbro said the proportion of fire companies that may have to close could reach 40%. And sanitation workers have already slowed down the mandate’s protests.
Before the latest mandate went into effect, unvaccinated employees could take weekly negative COVID-19 tests in order to go to work, but the testing option is no longer available.
As of Sunday morning, the police department, which employs some 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, reported an 84% vaccination rate. The fire department said Sunday afternoon that 80% of its employees were vaccinated: 75% of firefighters, 87% of EMTS and 90% of civilian employees.
The mayor, since announcing his plans to extend the mandate to all city employees more than a week ago, insisted that first responders and others who serve and protect the people of New York City must also protect themselves from themselves, even from a virus that it has now killed. an estimate of more than 34,500 in the five boroughs alone.
De Blasio has stood firm on that claim even amid mounting protests by union members and advocates, the latest of which was a demonstration by hundreds of firefighters and others outside the mayor’s own official residence last week. .
The courts have upheld the mayor’s mandate despite challenges from firefighters unions and an ongoing appeal from the Police Benevolent Association, which represents the NYPD. De Blasio believes that his mandate, which he claims to have enacted in the name of public health, will continue to prevail. Many experts agree.
Supporters of the mandates say New Yorkers have the right not to be infected by public officials unwilling to get vaccinated, as people who refuse to get vaccinated are now a major factor in the continued spread of the virus. The mandates have also received support in court systems, such as on Friday, when a federal appeals panel upheld New York State’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.
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