Union leaders representing the New York City Police Department warned that mass numbers of unvaccinated police officers would be pulled from duty on November 1 due to vaccine mandates.
So far the number is 34 out of 35,000.
There are 40 civilian NYPD staffers out of 12,000 on leave-without-pay status, according to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Many more employees are awaiting a decision by the city on their requests for exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
Of all 300,000 city employees, roughly 12,000 had applied for exemptions.
The Washington Post published at 6:42amET a report that a total of 85% of NYPD had been vaccinated, but approximately two hours later, Mayor Bill deBlasio updated the numbers of vaccinated police officers to 92%.
De Blasio has suggested the city will be strict in its evaluation of exemption requests, saying Monday that “For the vast majority of people, of course the decision is, no, they do not get an exemption.”
Covid-19 was the leading cause of death for officers in 2020 and 2021, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks the on-duty deaths of U.S. police officers.