LAPD Chief Says Department's Vaccination Effort Has 'Slowed Dramatically'
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — With only about 40% of the Los Angeles Police Department fully vaccinated, Chief Michel Moore told the city's Police Commission Tuesday that the vaccination effort has "slowed dramatically."
In the last week, only six department employees received the first dose of the vaccine.
According to Moore, just over 50% of the department, or 6,272 employees, have received a first dose of the vaccine and 40% are fully vaccinated.
The slowdown is similar to the one happening across Los Angeles County, which County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer called "very worrisome."
In an effort to vaccinate the remaining employees, the police department is hosting a Johnson & Johnson vaccine event on Tuesday, Wednesday and on May 11.
"I'm hopeful that will increase our numbers substantially. In an earlier survey, I would remind the commission, we found that those that had vaccine hesitancy, there was as many as 1,000 additional personnel that expressed in interest in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in contrast to the other two that are currently in the marketplace," Moore said.
Moore also mentioned that 7,977 personnel, 64% of the department, have antibodies for the virus due to the vaccine or having previously tested positive for the virus.
Since the pandemic began, a total of 2,695 department employees tested positive for the virus, including two sworn employees who tested positive in the last week.
To date, 2,659 personnel have recovered and returned to work while 63 employees remain at home recovering.
Eight department employees have died from the virus.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)