In San Jose, Calif., City leaders decided just like a vaccination mandate took effect to allow unvaccinated agents to keep their jobs un...
In San Jose, Calif., City leaders decided just like a vaccination mandate took effect to allow unvaccinated agents to keep their jobs until the end of the year, with incremental discipline and testing requirements. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has said he wants to keep as many police officers as possible on the job, but worries about the public health risks of having unvaccinated police officers on the streets.
“It’s a huge challenge, and I think mayors across the country are balancing the safety imperatives of answering 911 calls with the safety imperatives of having a workforce vaccinated,” Mr. Liccardo.
But agents have leverage. Many police departments have an abundance of job openings and a shortage of qualified candidates. And city leaders say they don’t want to risk a massive departure of officers at a time when homicides have increased nationwide.
“If you decide to go ahead with the requirement for this vaccine, the loss of officers is on you,” Josh Carter, an officer from Leesburg, Va., Said at a recent meeting where the members of the city council considered a vaccination mandate for municipal workers (and decided not to vote that day). “I will come back and ask you what your plan is to keep my family and neighbors safe with little or no officers patrolling our streets or schools,” Carter told the council.
Still, supporters of the warrant noted that there were risks for the public not to demand the shots. Mayor Kelly Burk of Leesburg, a suburb of Washington, said she supported the vaccine requirement.
“We have a job, and this job is also to protect, and they are part of that protection,” Ms. Burk, a Democrat, said of the city’s police force. “And so if they’re not vaccinated, if they’re not willing to wear masks, then it becomes a real problem.”
Workplace vaccination warrants has become more common as the Delta variant has skyrocketed cases and President Biden announced plans to require vaccination or frequent testing among large employers. The warrants succeeded in increase vaccination rates in healthcare companies, airlines and other businesses, and a relatively small number of workers have left their jobs because of this problem.
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