Uncertain future ahead for hundreds of unvaccinated San Francisco police officers
SAN FRANCISCO - The date for San Francisco's police officers to receive their vaccination shots to be fully vaccinated by the October 13th deadline has come and gone.
As many as 267 officers who are still unvaccinated could lose their jobs. Those officers had until yesterday to receive their second dose of Moderna or Pfizer, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in order to be fully vaccinated by the deadline.
San Francisco police officers are among city employees that fall under the health order requiring them to be fully vaccinated by October 13th.
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott releasing a statement acknowledging that as many as 267 of the city's 2,122 officers are unvaccinated and could be put on administrative leave, and eventually separated from the city.
The chief saying he's already planning on pulling 31 officers from their regular duties and putting them on patrol to make up for any absences.
"Uncertainty about the number of unvaccinated SFPD members who will be unable to perform their duties after October 13 requires this department to begin initial redeployments to assure that we continue to fulfill our core functions of patrol, investigations and public safety," Scott said.
Malia Cohen serves on the San Francisco's Police Commission and she says each officer who asks for an exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine will receive a hearing where they'll learn about their future working for the city.
"We as city employees and we as the police commission, our job is that we create an environment that is safe for officers to perform their core function," Cohen said.
Tracy McCray from San Francisco's Police Officers Association says she is still negotiating with the city and hopes that unvaccinated officers will be allowed to continue to serve with a combination of masks and regular testing.
"I believe we will come to an agreement where we will have officers out on the street, we're safe, we're vaccinated, if they're not because of an exemption or anything they still will be safe in how they do their job," said McCray.
Several sources tell KTVU the city is hoping that as unvaccinated officers realize that their unwillingness to get immunized is negatively impacting the department, they'll go ahead and get the shots.
At the same time, the mayor has said she will push ahead with a city budget that includes police academies to make up for any loss of officers who end up being terminated over the matter.