New York City municipal workers have rushed to get COVID-19 vaccinations in recent days, raising the group’s overall coverage to 91% through Saturday evening.
But progress has stalled among key workforces such as first responders and sanitation workers, and enforcement of the mandate begins on Monday. Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to send home all unvaccinated employees without pay, but some workers are already calling in sick. Service interruptions, namely trash pickup, are deepening.
About 1 in 5 sanitation workers — 21% — missed Friday's deadline for the shots and remained unvaccinated. This tally improved only two percentage points on Saturday. Similar stagnation applied to the city’s firefighters, except a larger portion there — 27% — have not taken at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Large gaps also remain intact for emergency medical services (EMS) workers and the NYPD — both with 16% uninoculated.