After the teachers and health personnel, the New York City Hall will force the police, firefighters and other municipal workers to get vaccinated against covid-19, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a statement.
"The obligation goes into effect on November 1 for all city workforces, including police, firefighters and garbage collectors.", reported the municipality, which will start "immediate impact negotiations with affected unions".
The only exception is prison guards, for whom enforcement is delayed until December 1 due to a lack of personnel at the Rikers Island jail, where deteriorating detention conditions have been repeatedly denounced in recent weeks.
To encourage vaccination, the municipality promises to pay $ 500 to those who receive the first dose before October 29. As of that date, the recalcitrant will stop receiving their salary "until they present proof of vaccination to their hierarchical superiors", Explain.
At least 71% of the city’s 160,000 employees have already received at least one dose of the vaccine, leaving about 46,000 people unvaccinated.
Until now, the obligation only reached some professions more exposed to the public, such as teachers and health personnel. The rest had the option of taking a negative test each week in order to go to work.
Hard hit by the pandemic in 2020, New York already requires the vaccination certificate for many indoor activities, such as restaurants, cinemas, theaters and gyms.
More than 34,000 people have died of covid-19 in the city of more than 8 million people.
Other cities and states have adopted similar measures in the country, given the resistance of a part of the population to be vaccinated.
In Chicago, the main police union has asked its adherents to refuse to report whether they are vaccinated or not, at a time when the city is seeing an increase in crime. In Texas, the Republican governor has banned the vaccine from being mandatory, even in private companies.
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