NYPD

NYC's Unvaccinated Workforce Faces Termination Today Without Proof of Shots

Roughly 95% of the city's 370,000 municipal workers have received at least one dose, meaning there are less than 3,000 unvaccinated employees

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Police, firefighters, and other New York City employees have run out of time to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and they will likely face termination on Friday without proof of the shot.

That deadline was announced less than two weeks ago, months after the city's health commissioner issued an order that all municipal employees receive their vaccination series in order to work. Any city workers staring down the cutoff were notified, according to memos obtained by News 4.

Roughly 95% of the city's 370,000 municipal workers have received at least one dose, meaning there are less than 3,000 unvaccinated employees and less than 1% are poised to be dismissed Friday.

The termination applies to two groups: new hires who have not submitted proof of a second vaccine dose, if required to complete their series, and unvaccinated employees currently on unpaid leave who did not request to continue receiving health benefits past June.

New city employees brought on after Aug. 2 needed a full vaccination series as a condition of their employment, and were given 45 days to do so.

The other group are those on leave without pay and did not remain on health benefits as negotiated by the unions.

"We are not firing them. People are quitting. The responsibility is clear. We said it," Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday.

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