San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott (left to right) speaks with Sergeant Kin Lee at the end of a press conference on the semi-annual report on public safety statistics on Monday, July 12, 2021 in San Francisco, California. Lea Suzuki / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

Of the 366 San Francisco Police Department employees not vaccinated against COVID-19, 193 have requested religious exemptions to avoid the required vaccines, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

In June, San Francisco became the first major city to announce that approximately 35,000 city employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their jobs, the Los Angeles Times reported.

All city employees must be vaccinated by October 13th. People who work in high-risk environments such as prisons or nursing homes must be vaccinated by September 15th.

At the end of last month, KBCW reported that 88% of city employees had already been vaccinated. About 2% did not report their vaccination status and 10% said they were not vaccinated.

KGO reported that the measure has been pushed back by city workers, with some city officials saying they would step down when the policy goes into effect.

In August, KGO reported that the city recommended eight officials, seven firefighters and two deputies to be suspended without pay for failing to reveal their vaccination status.

The San Francisco Human Resources Department reported on Chronicle 157 that police officers’ requests for religious exemptions have been tentatively approved. The department received a total of 296 requests for exemption from religious affiliation from employees of the city, 193 came from the police.

At the time of publication, DHR did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

“The only way out of the pandemic and to protect our employees is to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated against COVID-19,” Mawuli Tugbenyoh, head of politics at the DHR, told the Chronicle: “The damage that COVID-19 did to our communities, health and livelihoods is now preventable. “

As of Saturday, 74% of all San Francisco residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

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