About 9,000 city workers are on unpaid
leave for violating the city's vaccine mandate that's now in effect.
Officials
said any city worker who has not received at least one dose of a COVID-19
vaccine would be taken off the payroll beginning today.
“So now we know as of today
91% of city work force is vaccinated and growing. We want everyone to do the
right thing. Everyone who hasn't done so has a chance to fix it, get
vaccinated, and come back to work,”
said Mayor Bill DeBlasio.
As of this morning, 84% of the NYPD, 77% of the FDNY and 83% of sanitation
workers were vaccinated.
A total of 12,000 city employees filed for an
exemption, which is one of the reasons organizations representing city workers
like firefighters want testing to continue.
Different departments have different plans for dealing with staff shortages in
the coming days and weeks. Firefighters will likely work 80 hours a week and
possibly move to other companies, officials say. Sanitation workers may come in
Sundays and work 12-hour shifts so garbage does not pile up.