Greater than 100 San Francisco police and firefighters stay unvaccinated and will lose jobs
Nearly 190 San Francisco police and firefighters were still not completely unvaccinated hours before the midnight deadline for these city workers to shoot.
Police Chief Bill Scott told the Police Commission on Wednesday evening that 118 sworn police officers – 5% of all sworn officers – remain unvaccinated and 61 are partially vaccinated. Another 31 non-sworn employees are unvaccinated and 11 partially vaccinated.
A spokesman for the police department said Thursday morning that the numbers are “likely” to change, but has not yet been able to give an exact number. It was not immediately clear how many had not reported their vaccination status, which was also required by the deadline.
The police have 2,835 employees, including 2,122 officers.
That is compared to the fire brigade, where 39 employees had not received any shots by Thursday. Everyone got in touch. This department has 1,788 employees.
San Francisco police and firefighters had to be fully vaccinated by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday evening – that is, 14 days had passed since their last vaccination.
According to the city’s human resources department, police and fire fighters who have not been vaccinated will be notified immediately by human resources that they will no longer be able to do their jobs until they are vaccinated. You will be put on paid leave until your case comes to the police or the fire brigade.
The commissions will recommend disciplinary action to the police and fire chiefs, which may include dismissal, which will then ultimately determine the future of the employee.
Employees can receive medical or religious exemptions. Almost 200 police officers have already requested religious exemptions, which is by far the highest number of exemptions of any city agency. 26 workers applied for either medical or religious exemptions from the fire department by Wednesday.
As of the beginning of this week, the HR department had not made any final decisions about exceptions, a spokesman said on Thursday.
The San Francisco vaccination mandate, the first and one of the strictest in the country, aroused some opposition from unions, particularly from law enforcement. Workers in high-risk environments such as hospitals, nursing homes and homeless shelters faced a vaccination mandate as early as September 30, while the rest of the city’s 35,000 workers must be vaccinated by November 1.
The police are prepared for the possibility of operating and continuing to provide critical services without unvaccinated employees.
Two weeks ago, Police Chief Bill Scott said in an email that the department would be shifting staff to remove unvaccinated workers from patrol, where they regularly interact with the public, and said the department would continue to provide vital services without the unvaccinated Officials could provide.
The number of unvaccinated people in the police force fell as the deadline drew nearer.
On October 5, 189 members were unvaccinated. Among them were 155 sworn members, 97 of them on patrol and 34 non-sworn members.
Mallory Moench is the author of the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
